


This Way Up

by Catsitta



Series: Caution: Fragile [4]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell (Undertale), Babybones (Undertale), Backstory, Drabble, Drama, Dubious Ethics, Family, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor, Knock-Knock Jokes, Magic and Science, Parent Toriel (Undertale), Parent W. D. Gaster, Sans (Undertale) Has Issues, Science, Scientist Sans (Undertale), Scientist W. D. Gaster, Underfell W. D. Gaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 250
Words: 25,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22145950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catsitta/pseuds/Catsitta
Summary: There is only so much pressure one can take before they crack. Sans hit his limit long before Frisk came crashing into his life like a brick, and everything started falling to pieces. He just didn’t know it yet.HwC Pre-Sequel | 100 Word Drabbles | Sans’ Backstory
Series: Caution: Fragile [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1477943
Comments: 1447
Kudos: 262





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> STOP: This is a pre-sequel to Handle with Care. That story is needed to be read first to understand this one.

Sans learned young that some questions were best left unasked—

“hey dad, where’s mom?”

“Stop mumbling, Sans, and enunciate when you speak.” Dr. W.D. Gaster turned, arms crossed, expression stern. Around him, hand constructs signed as he spoke. “You have a legible Font, use it.”

“s-sorry…” Sans fussed with the pages of the Biology textbook he held. “it’s just, it says here that monsters are made with the magic of two monsters. so if you’re my dad, then where is—”

“They don’t exist. Now stop pestering me with foolishness and study.”

—and that some answers were better left unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

His father wasn’t a bad man. Authoritative and strict, yes, but coldness wasn’t cruelty. He had high expectations for his son, and Sans wanted to make him proud. Make him happy. So he studied hard, learned to smile through each criticism because it was a chance to learn. To improve. Sans never thought it odd that he rarely saw kids his age. 

But...in his weaker moments, he had to admit, those visits with Auntie Tori were nice. She was gentle, soft and warm. She snuck him sweets and took him to the park.

Taught him to be a kid.


	3. Chapter 3

“What are you reading, my child?”

Sans shut the book and hid it behind his back with a meek smile. Being only knee high to Toriel, it wasn’t hard for her to peek and see the cover. Her expression softened and she knelt, guiding his hands to the front. 101 Knock Knock Jokes.

“m’sorry.”

“Whatever for?” She cupped his skull with her paw. “It is quite alright, Sans. You can read whatever you wish from these shelves.”

“m’sposed to be studyin’,”His guilty gaze fell to the coffee table and the calculus textbook. 

“Everyone needs breaks sometimes.”

“everyone?”

“Yes, everyone.”


	4. Chapter 4

“My apologies for running late. I was in back-to-back meetings with the Board, then there was an emergency at the CORE—”

“Hush,” Toriel’s voice was little more than a whisper. “Sans is sleeping.” Not anymore, but he kept his eyelights out, the blanket pulled over his head. He fell asleep on the couch while Auntie Tori read to him. “And you should be as well.”

“I’m fine.”

“Have you eaten today?” Only silence. “Gaster...You can’t keep up like this. Living off of coffee and cigarettes. You have a son now. A brilliant, wonderful boy.”

Gaster’s voice cracked, “I know.”


	5. Chapter 5

It was a strange day, as Toriel told it, when Sans was born. Gaster came rushing into the Dreemur household with an undersized bundle of bones in his arms, dark circles worse than normal, and a look of raw desperation in his sockets. At that moment, he was every inch the gawky, clueless boy she watched grow into his lab coat. 

“He won’t stop crying or eat and—” 

Toriel didn’t ask any questions. She took the child into her arms and lit up her Soul. Gaster looked away. 

“It is natural,” she assured him.

But none of it came easy.


	6. Chapter 6

“knock knock!”

“Who’s there?”

Toriel hid a smile behind her paw, her eyes bright. Sans held a joke book open on his lap, this one about snails. She was the best audience. Always laughing, even if he stumbled while reading the punchline.

Asgore was an easy target too.

“knock knock!’

“Oh dear, I have a guest?” 

He would pick Sans up and set him on his lap to listen.

But then there was his dad.

“knock knock!”

Gaster paused in the doorway of Sans’ bedroom, “...Who’s there?”

“snail.”

“Snail who?”

“snail you later, dad!”

Gaster groaned, “Goodnight, Sans.”

“you’re smiling!”


	7. Chapter 7

Sans sat on Toriel’s living room floor, working on the puzzle trap his dad gave him to disarm. In the other room, he could hear the Dreemurs and his dad talking.

“It would be a waste to send him to primary school,” Gaster argued, that sharp finality piercing the quiet. “Through home study alone, he has exceeded standard. According to my projections he will be at college level courses by the time he is seven.”

“I realize that Sans is very bright,” Toriel soothed.

“A genius,” Asgore agreed.

“But he needs to interact with other children his age.”

“But _school_?”


	8. Chapter 8

It was a late spring day when Toriel wrangled Gaster into agreeing for Sans to visit the local elementary school. Just for a day, she assured them both, to see how Sans felt about it. He hid behind Gaster’s leg as they entered the odd building, phalanges tangled in the fabric of his slacks. Toriel gushed about how much fun he would have, an unfamiliar monster meeting them and guiding them through the colorful halls. 

“Ms. Bun is expecting you three,” she said, kneeling to smile at Sans. “Excited, young man?”

Sans, curious by nature, nodded.

“Awe, he’s so shy!”


	9. Chapter 9

Toriel dragged Gaster to the back of the room, and Sans blinked owlishly at the twenty pairs of eyes staring at him. He shifted, picking at the sleeves of his sweater as Ms. Bun introduced him as a guest. 

“Tell us about yourself, Sans. What do you do for fun?”

His eyelights darted across the room as he mumbled, “i like tellin’ jokes…’n findin’ constellations.” 

A bird monster waved a wing, “What is constellations?”

“a collection of stars that form an imaginary outline or pattern, usually symbolic of a mythical figure, an animal or a thing.”

“You use big words.”


	10. Chapter 10

School was...weird. Ms. Bun “taught” the class a bunch of simple stuff, asking students if they knew answers. Within an hour, Sans was bored out of his skull and stacking the little cubes they were given to help solve problems on their math sheet.

“Um, can you help me?” asked a mouse with a bow around her ear. “Fractions are hard…”

Sans nodded, and leapt into action, showing her how to solve them. It gained notice from students and Ms. Bun.

“Do you like math, Sans?” she asked.

“yeah. calculus isn’t as fun as astronomy though.”

“Calculus?”

“yep.”


	11. Chapter 11

“You wanna sit with me during lunch?” asked the mouse—Minnie.

“uh, sure?” Sans bounced a little, “i mean, yeah, i do!”

She giggled, but shrank back when Gaster approached and motioned for Sans to come to him, “Class will recommence in forty-five minutes. We will eat here.”

“but...i wanna eat with minnie.”

Toriel thumped Gaster, “Don’t hover.” She beamed down at the pair and handed Sans a lunchbox. “There you go, my child. Have fun.”

Sans beamed as he scurried back to Minnie and followed her out of the room with the rest of the class.

“He’s fine.”


	12. Chapter 12

Sans found lunch to be another odd experience. Some of the children watched him, others paid him no heed. A couple pointed and whispered. And only Minnie spoke to him. That was fine. She was scared of his dad but thought Toriel looked nice, and he made her laugh. A lot. A human kid asked what was so funny between bites of his sandwich. Sans knocked on the table, his ensuing joke making Minnie laugh harder and the human roll his eyes.

“Weirdo,” the kid said. 

“don’t got a sans of humor?”

“Whatever.”

His Soul was light when lunch ended.


	13. Chapter 13

By the end of the day, Sans was essentially bouncing in his seat, their time allotted to puzzle making. He didn’t have a longstanding project to work on, but he eagerly built away, chattering with the group he sat with. He even got them laughing!

As they worked, Ms. Bun approached the adult monsters.

“Dr. Gaster, an honor,” she began. “Your son is very...well, I’m not sure if anyone here can cater to his academic needs…” 

“That’s fine!” Interrupted Toriel. “A child should go to school. Make friends. Learn to control magic with their peers.”

“Says you…” Gaster grumbled.


	14. Chapter 14

Sans was skipping between Gaster and Toriel, chattering about his day and the other kids and the puzzle he built, a bundle of excitement and energy. He didn’t notice his father’s tight expression, that masked caution. 

“I do not think he will benefit from full days at the elementary school.”

“Gaster.”

“No, Toriel. I will concede to you partly because of his social development that you insist he refine with other children. But I will not stifle his intellectual growth by forcing him to waste his time there.”

“You should ask Sans—”

“Sans is a child. I am his father.”


	15. Chapter 15

It was a quiet, late spring afternoon when Sans went looking for his father, having come to work with him that day for a check up, and then left to an intern to watch when Gaster was called away. Slipping the intern was easy, but finding his dad was harder. He had finished his trap and Gaster promised to test it when Sans finished.

A few frustrated minutes of searched ended with him bumping into the legs of a pacing scientist. He had jagged teeth, red eye lights and scars. Sans brightened.

“dr. fell!”

“Where’s your old man?”

“i dunno.”


	16. Chapter 16

Web Fell had long legs that ate up distance. Sans was short like a corgi. It didn’t take too long before Dr. Fell sighed, knelt, and hoisted Sans onto his shoulders, “Up you go.”

“whee!”

“Don’t get used to it kid. You walk too slow.”

Sans patted his skull, “thank you, dr. fell!”

Web muttered something under his breath as he walked from room to room, ignoring the odd looks from staff. They eventually ended up at the CORE’s cafeteria, where they spotted Gaster slumped over the table, out cold.

“Fool fell asleep fixin’ other people’s problems again,” Web muttered.


	17. Chapter 17

Dr. Fell and Dr. Gaster had an interesting relationship to say the least. They were coworkers and scientific peers. Gaster, however, was the lead scientist for a number of reasons…

BANG.

One of which was the fact that he was the more sociable between them both.

“What the—!?” Gaster bit back a curse, spotting Sans on Web’s shoulders as he flung himself backwards from the bone construct impaled in the cafeteria table. “Web! What is the meaning of this?”

“Found your runt wandering around. Thought I would return him,” he plopped Sans beside Gaster. 

“awe. bye.”

Gaster rubbed his temples.


	18. Chapter 18

Birthdays weren't exciting for Sans...not the first half of the day, at least. Gaster took him to his special lab on that day and began a new folder, hooking Sans up to odd machines to measure his magic and vitals. All around was a steady hum, a faint glow cast by large cylinders filled with fluid.

"40HP, 1ATK, 5DEF," Gaster murmured. "ATK should rise when S' magic develops more." He turned, shining a light into Sans' socket, "Do you still see 'funny numbers'?"

Sans blinked, "yeah."

"Good," Gaster formed a bone construct, posing it over his own hand, "Number?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is some questionable science there G.


	19. Chapter 19

Sans was three when he had the words to say he saw math, a statement that was easily dismissed as childhood whimsy until he started wailing at the sight of 'big numbers' in public. It wasn't until he was older anyone made the connection, even himself, that the numbers were similar to the stats any grown monster could see in a CHECK. 

But what would always remain uniquely Sans, was seeing a number and knowing…

...If the dust or blood on their conscious was earned in malice.

He stared at the number above Gaster's head. Old monsters bore heavy burdens.


	20. Chapter 20

Now six years old with a summer between him and a promised first term of school, Sans spent an increasing amount of time with his dad. Not that he minded. But he did miss Auntie Tori. She was engrossed in some charity event or fundraiser or another during those months, apologetic when she told Gaster she couldn’t watch Sans for the evening.

Which was how he ended up wrestled into a pair of new sneakers (Sans did not like shoes and felt like making that point clear) and tugged into business meetings outside the CORE. 

At least he had crayons.


	21. Chapter 21

“Sit here and stay,” Gaster said, dropping Sans onto a stool at the bar. “I’m sorry about this, just...let him order food and put it on my tab. Apologies. Sans, don’t cause him any trouble.” The flustered scientist scuttled off, briefcase in hand, to join a nearby table. Which left Sans staring at a befuddled fire elemental. His numbers were awful big...but he didn’t seem....bad. 

“hi? my name’s sans.”

“...Grillby.” Sans didn’t know that children weren’t supposed to be at the bar, and peered around the room. “Are you hungry?”

“hm, yeah!” 

He handed Sans a menu.


	22. Chapter 22

Sans was an inquisitive child. He pointed at bottles and the mixed drinks Grillby prepared and asked what they were between bites of his cheeseburger. He reluctantly answered that those were adult only beverages, and watched as Sans picked up a bottle of ketchup and drowned his meal further with the stuff. 

Suddenly, Sans was hit with an idea. He grinned mischievously at the elemental and tipped the bottle over his mouth, "yum!"

Grillby made a choked noise.

Noting that his new favorite drink was gone, Sans waved the squeeze bottle at the bartender and giggled, "more!"

Grillby slowly nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a direct reference to ch.156 of Handle with Care~ Also, kiddo Sansy imitating the adults by drinking condiments instead of fancy booze.


	23. Chapter 23

During the summer, Sans ended up sitting at the bar a few more times, though once was at his own request. Gaster exploded their ramen supper, told Sans to never say a word of what happened to Toriel, and took him out to get whatever Sans wanted.

Gaster thanked Grillby for the countless time for his patience and the elemental had the grace to not mention he wasn't a babysitter. Instead, he popped ketchup in front of Sans, and watched as Gaster's face twisted with disgust, "Are you why my son has been drinking all the condiments in the refrigerator?"


	24. Chapter 24

With the fade of summer came the start of school. Even if he was only doing partial days for social reasons, it was new and different and exciting. Sans had his classes with Minnie! But as Gaster remained standing curbside, watching, Sans felt a tug under his sternum. Beyond the glass front doors, he would be alone. He braced himself, not wanting to wimp out this early, and went inside, finding his classroom without difficulty.

He stepped in and was greeted by an extraordinarily fluffy orange feline monster, Mrs. Twyst. 

"um, i'm sans."

"Sans...Gaster? Our half day student?"

"yeah."


	25. Chapter 25

Sans learned two things on his first real day of school: he was weird and his family weirder.

They arranged the desks in a circle and introduced themselves in a fun popcorn style game…which was great, until Sans said that his favorite food was ketchup with hotdogs. "EWWW!" That at least got a bit of a laugh. But when asked about his parents, apparently "head scientist at the core" and "i don't know, dead maybe?" were not the right answers.

Even the teacher looked a little discolored for some reason.

Sans frowned at his shoes, not understanding their reaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kickback all the way to ch.1.


	26. Chapter 26

When Sans’ part day ended, he held a piece of paper with a note clipped to the corner. The teacher wanted a meeting with Gaster. All because of his answer during introductions and the picture he drew during art time. He was so proud of it. Minnie liked it! They were to draw their families. What was wrong with his?

His dad in black crayon in the center, Aunt Tori and Uncle Asgore to one side, Mr. Grillby near the edge with Minnie (friends could be family right?), and Sans in the middle, everyone labeled accordingly in his loopy handwriting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone know exactly why the teacher would want a meeting~?


	27. Chapter 27

Aunt Tori and his dad made him stay in the living room as they spoke in low voices in the kitchen. When Toriel picked him up from school, she got a worried look upon reading the note, and when Gaster came to pick Sans up, his whole demeanor shifted. The conversation went on so long that Uncle Asgore arrived home. Upon spotting Sans on the couch, he laid his suitcase on the floor and sat down beside him, “Everything alright, little one?”

“...teacher didn’t like my family drawin’ i think.”

“Oh?”

Sans kicked his legs, “yeah. dad’s mad.”

“Oh dear.”


	28. Chapter 28

It was awkward through the evening and into the next morning, Gaster stiff and silent as he carried Sans into the school. He didn’t usually carry Sans. Unlike Web or Asgore, who scooped him up easily, Gaster usually left him to follow, not wanting to coddle him. But today was different in a weird way. They entered the classroom before school started as was requested, Gaster’s aura chilling the air.

“Our private life is our own. Your misguided pity should be kept to yourself.”

“It’s p-protocol to ask, for the child’s welfare.”

“For your welfare—don’t.”

She nodded.

Sans shivered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Notes:  
> +In HwC it is expressed that is highly uncommon for monsters to come from single parent homes, with the taboo being due to broken soul bonds often killing both parties. A monster with a broken soul bond is percieved as broken themselves and survivors are generally pitied.
> 
> +Gaster being a single parent (despite being a promiment figure in monster society) is not well known. It can be assumed that beyond this incident that Sans really doesn't talk much about the whole not having a mom thing.
> 
> +Remember that LV? Sans doesn't like it when anyone throws around their LV. He doesn't know exactly how or why his dad has it, but Gaster doesn't usually have this creepy, "I will hurt you' vibe.
> 
> +Keep in mind that nobody but Gaster knows that Sans only has one parent total. He hasn't even revealed that truth to the Dreemurs since he is still preparing for phase 2.
> 
> +You might wonder: why a welfare check? Keep in mind that it is assumed that the surviving parent is /broken/. As in possibly not mentally/emotionally/physically fit any longer to care for a child. Sansy is clearly well taken care of, but for monsters, this is a very serious thing they keep track of just in case that parent is at risk of Falling.


	29. Chapter 29

Sans wished Gaster hadn't confronted Mrs. Twyst. The feline monster went from a little uneasy but kind to outright skittish around him. He wanted to tell her he was fine. To take back whatever he said that made her send the note. He was sorry.

At least he had Minnie and a few other kids to talk to during down time. 

The first days of school pass as such, tense and stiff. But eventually things eased out. Or he got better at ignoring the weird. He could do it, this school thing, even if it was mostly really super boring.


	30. Chapter 30

"dad, i want to know about mom."

Gaster scowled as always, "That isn't what I meant when I asked if you wanted a bedtime story." Given that most of his knowledge about children came from the Dreemurs and child development books from their library, he understood that reading to one's children was crucial to language skills. He'd read to Sans semi regularly since birth. Sans usually settled right in at the offer. 

"is she dead? did she leave us?"

"Sans for the hundredth time, she does not exist!" 

"stop hiding things! nobody tells me anything!" Sans shouted, startling the scientist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cmon G, throw the kid a bone why don't ya?


	31. Chapter 31

Gaster snapped shut the book in hand, looking ready to leave, but instead, he leveled his gaze at the wall, "Sans, you do not have a mother." He help up a finger when the babybones tried interrupting. "As illogical and impossible as it sounds, I am not being disingenuous." He tapped the cover, "Tomorrow, I will pick you up from school and things will be made more clear. But for tonight I ask you accept my words as truth. I am not a liar, Sans, assuming that of me does neither of us any favors."

He flipped open the book.


	32. Chapter 32

They went to Gaster's special lab. The one with massive tubes and beeping machines. Gaster was stiff as he laid a hand on the side of a glowing cylinder, "I will require you to tell no one of what you learn today, Sans. This is a secret. The kind of secret that if it is told to the wrong person could…cause very bad things to happen." It was rare he used simple language, as if emphasizing his need for Sans to understand.

"You have no biological mother. You were conceived by my magic alone...here."

"in the tank?"

"Yes."


	33. Chapter 33

"...what am i?"

"A skeleton monster."

"why don't i have a mom?"

"You were an experiment. Your conception through artificial means is a step forward for monsterkind."

"why is it a secret then?"

"Change causes fear. This kind of change blurs the boundaries on monsterkind's moral code. All the more terrifying when one doesn't know the long term repercussions."

"does that make me bad?"

"No, Sans, but other monsters or even humans may perceive you as such… I do care about your well-being, and I am all too familiar about the capacity of others to do harm in their ignorance."


	34. Chapter 34

That only left one question: “why?”

Why was he made? Why was it bad? Why would other people be upset?

Gaster sighed, looking terribly old. He laid a palm flat on the surface of a tube, the hole marring the appendage suddenly glaring to Sans in its wrongness. 

“You will understand when you are older what it is to owe debts,” he murmured. “You were made because I wanted to help the Dreemurs have a child.”

“...do they know?”

“No.”

“...did you...want me?”

“I had not planned on a child.”

“oh.”

“Unexpected does not mean unwanted, Sans.”

“oh!”

“Indeed.”


	35. Chapter 35

As it always did, life moved on.

Sans grew used to his new schedule. Art, music, gym and his favorite...puzzle making. Gym was the worst, and nobody wanted mr. corgi legs on their team. That is, until some of the meaner kids decided to pick on him during dodgeball. Repeatedly. Not only did he get really good at getting out of the way, but in a moment of sheer frustration, his magic flared, a ball walloping a bully in the head.

He got scolded by the coach for using blue magic.

Gaster let him have ice cream for dinner.


	36. Chapter 36

"can i invite minnie over?"

"That is a question to ask Toriel. She is the one who generally picks you up from school," Gaster said, making a mark on the papers scattered on the table. 

Sans took a bite of oatmeal, "nu uh, like over here. maybe even a sleepover!"

That earned him a look, "No."

"please!"

"No."

"i'll tell aunt tori that you haven't quit smoking." 

"Blackmail?"

"dunno, can i have minnie over?" Sans demurred.

"I don't condone this behavior," Gaster drawled.

"that a yes?"

"No."

"aweeee."

"It's a school night."

Sans grinned. Gaster adjusted his glasses.


	37. Chapter 37

"Huh, so this is where you live?" Minnie asked, hand still wrapped around Sans'. Toriel picked them up from school, cooed while plying them with snacks, and after reassuring her parents she would be fine, watched them until Gaster arrived. Minnie hid behind Sans until they reached the small two bedroom home, packed to the brim with bookcases and scrap machinery. Oh, and there was a wall of puzzles. That was enough to appease even the shyest monsters.

"yup! wanna play in my room?"

"Yeah!"

Gaster later found them that evening asleep on the floor, pillows, paper and puzzles strewn around them.


	38. Chapter 38

His classmates didn't stand a chance. Most all of the school didn't stand a chance. Not when the winter Puzzle Fair came around. Sans may not have had anything for the academic puzzles since he was homeschooled in those subjects, but he did have a trap built for the competitive portion. Solve it incorrectly and it locked your hand in place and made a fart noise. It was great.

Gaster sighed at the childishness of it, but patted his skull approvingly. That is, until murmurs broke out among the judges.

The subject?

Did the royal scientist help his son cheat?


	39. Chapter 39

Gaster was incensed. Cheat? How dare they accuse him of such lowly behavior! Sensing his rising aggravation, Sans tugged on his pant leg, and the scientist let out a huff. Even when he calmly explained he couldn't have helped Sans, he made the trap in his puzzle class, the judges gazed at him skepticism. These monsters were scientific peers yet they would not believe his integrity. Jealousy. It had to be.

To his surprise, Twyst stepped forward. As well as Minnie. And some other children from Sans' class. 

"He didn't cheat," they chorused.

And Gaster found himself quiet with wonder.


	40. Chapter 40

The cheating accusation was brought on by the complexity of the puzzle. As in, none of the Judges could solve it. Hmph. It wasn't unheard of for parents to pad trap scores by making adjustments during the set up phase before demonstrations. If HE had done such a thing, Sans' trap wouldn't make fart noises. 

By end of day, there were reluctant apologies made, a trophy in Sans' arms and a weird feeling smothering out the pride in his chest.

"Are you happy, Sans?" he asked, guiding his son to the car.

He looked up, beaming with childish delight, "yeah!"


	41. Chapter 41

Between school and his at home studies and the occasional visit with friends, Sans was busy in an almost invigorating way as the months passed. His dad was also busier, but with the reveal that the lab was where he made Sans, they spent more time in said lab together. Gaster explained how the tanks worked, how he wanted to change lives, starting with the Dreemurs. 

“you’re gonna make them a baby?” Sans asked, realization dawning.

He didn’t reply immediately, “I am going to offer.”

A few weeks later came the announcement. 

“We’re expecting!”

They didn’t need the secret machine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Handle with Care it is mentioned that before Gaster could approach the Dreemurs about helping them concieve a child, they end up announcing that they are expecting their first child. Asriel is about a year older than Red, meaning he was born when Sans was eight-ish. So that means Sansy is sevenish now. We're going to have more time skips over the next few chapters as we start to leave the babybones years.


	42. Chapter 42

Like with any monster, the only physical sign of pregnancy was visible if one could see Toriel’s soul. Which meant that Sans spent more than one afternoon staring curiously at his aunt, squinting, so as to see the numbers and weirdness a little clearer. Her soul looked funny, but Sans knew better than to say that outloud, and it was bright. So bright one almost didn’t need to see souls and numbers to perceive the glow.

He was happy that she was happy. 

Suddenly, he had an idea.

“dad! can you make me a brother?”

Gaster choked on his coffee.


	43. Chapter 43

Gaster reminded Sans to be quiet when Asgore let them inside the Dreemur’s home, and guided them both to the master bedroom. Toriel sat in the center of the bed, a small, white bundle in her arms.

Sans blinked, a little in awe of the fledgling soul, and clambered onto the edge of the bed despite Gaster’s hushed protests. Toriel merely chuckled and held the kid lower so Sans could see. “he’s all ears,” he observed. “and fluffy.”

“His name is Asriel,” Toriel said. “And yes, he is very fluffy.”

“i declare him prince fluffybuns!”

The Dreemurs chuckled. Gaster groaned.


	44. Chapter 44

It wasn't long after Azzie's birth that Gaster took to long absences. They weren't uncommon in the past, and while he loved holding the newborn kid and playing with his ears, Sans was starting to feel antsy. These hiatuses to stay at work were too frequent, too extended. After sleeping at the Dreemur's a week, his frustration was too much and he cornered Gaster upon him checking up on Sans. There may have been bones and blue magic involved. 

"Impressive," Gaster murmured with scientific fascination. For all Sans was an early bloomer, he never made multiple constructs like that before.


	45. Chapter 45

Monsters communicated through magic. Beyond any barrier of language or capacity for speech, they could convey their emotions and intentions through ENCOUNTERS and their bullets. Thus Gaster, when he finished examining said bullets, turned to Sans with a tired look in his sockets. "I did not intend to be away this long," he murmured, using his hand constructs to brush away the bones. "Tomorrow. How about I take you to see what Web and I are working on?"

The blue magic fell away, "kay." Sans swayed. Gaster knelt and scooped him up.

"Let's go home and get you in bed."


	46. Chapter 46

"Why's the kid here?" Dr. Fell asked as soon as the Gasters arrived at the lab. Cuddly as always with a glare to match. Sans waved, peering at the tanks and blinking buttons. He froze, gaze fixed on a little, near transparent shell of a soul within one of the tubes. He wandered closer.

"He knows about his origins," Gaster replied. "And it occurred to me that seeing the process might alleviate some stress at home. He enjoys learning."

Web narrowed cracked sockets, "You're a fool." 

A shrug, "I calculated the risk."

"...why's the soul so funny looking...and small?"


	47. Chapter 47

W.D.F-1 was the second of its kind. A souling forged by a single monster's magic and a great deal of science. The expense to create the souling was great, and despite his impressive magic reserves, exhausted Web for weeks as he went through the donation process. And as fascinating as cloning was...Sans found himself rare to visit the lab. It didn't do much. Just floated, stats steadily ticking up as time marched on. He preferred helping Tori with Azzie, and hanging out with Minnie. Being part of history in the making was hardly fascinating to a child.


	48. Chapter 48

At nine years old, Sans experienced his first heartbreak. Summer was dwindling to an end, the school year about to begin, when his best friend started crying during one of her visits. She didn’t explain what was going on, not until he visited her house the next weekend, and he saw all the boxes. “We’re moving away.” The Mouse family had always been a little nervous about Sans, wilting when Gaster interrogated them the first time, but they were unflinchingly kind. Welcoming. 

“moving?”

“Daddy got a new job.”

“oh.”

Even with numbers and promises exchanged, Sans felt hollowed out. Numb.


	49. Chapter 49

“Sans? Have you done anything at all?” He peered up at the disapproving face of Mrs. Doe, before looking back down at the blank sheet in front of him. His classmates had long since finished their sketches and were crafting their paper-only puzzles Sans cast her an attempt at a real smile.

“sorry. guess i’m a real bonehead, yeah?” he rapped his knuckles on the side of his skull, and her frown only deepened. He could see her concern burning bright. 

“If there is anything you need to talk about, you can come to me.”

“...anything?”

“Anything.”

Sans glanced away.


	50. Chapter 50

Mrs. Doe wasn't alone in her observations. Sans was despondent at home as well, not expressing the same excitement about his studies or Azzie or even Toriel's puns. Needling from certain parties forced him to wear a smile despite his lethargy, if only to make the questions stop. He was fine. Just...fine…

It wasn't until he "forgot" to do his astronomy assignment that there was an intervention by Gaster himself.

"Do you want to go to school?" Gaster asked, not blind to Sans' sudden dip in performance.

"uh, sure."

"Yes or no, Sans. Speak up, you're mumbling again."

"...no?"


	51. Chapter 51

A call to the school later and Sans was excused from classes for the day and following Gaster around the CORE. Now that he was older he had his own name badge and everything. It wasn't until that evening, as his dad checked on the souling, that Gaster addressed him.

"Care to share why you are neglecting your studies?" he asked, writing down notes, eyelights fixed downwards.

"m'not."

"Sans…"

"m'not! just...dunno…"

"You will make new friends," he said. 

"no i won't."

Gaster raised a brow, "Whyever not? You're sociable enough."

"minnie was special."

"...Does she have a phone?"

"yeah?"


	52. Chapter 52

"I gotta go, daddy says it's dinner time."

"bye."

As the call ended, Sans let the phone drop to his side. Their talks made things easier but distance was hard to cope with when you're young. He did start to feel better and give proper dedication to his at home studies, but class itself was...uncomfortable. They were of an age now that it was evident he didn't exactly belong. Even the fellow smart kids frowned at him when he talked about modern mechanical engineering's influence on puzzle theory.

And his friends?

Kids were fickle.

He started readying for bed.


	53. Chapter 53

Sans sat with his nasal bone in a book as the adults had their 'discreet' conversation in the kitchen.

"He's ready, Toriel!"

"He's not even ten. No child his age should be testing into college much less out of it."

"Kids have done it before. He would have done it younger…"

"Gaster."

"He's unhappy at that school. Ever since that girl moved…"

"He needs time."

"He needs proper social interaction, of which his peers are not providing and we cannot." A surprising admittance. "Tori...despite what you may want to admit, Sans is more like me than he is not."


	54. Chapter 54

It started small. Whispers. Glances away in the hall. There were the one off comments and sneering jokes. He was picked last for teams at gym if picked at all. There was an increasing number of things thrown at his head. Children could be cruel, and Sans went from quiet but sociable to isolated. He didn't understand why. He couldn't. He never did anything to warrant this mistreatment!

The last straw was during a mock ENCOUNTER, somebody threw a baseball at the back of his head. His partner shrieked. The coach shouted. Sans swayed and his world pixelated into darkness.


	55. Chapter 55

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Awareness returned thick and hazy, all cotton and molasses and mist upon a midnight lake. Sans blinked but saw nothing. He could not turn his head. His phalanges, he could feel them, curl them, but why was he blinded? Aimless he scratched at his sockets only to find bandages instead of bone.

“You leave those alone,” Sans relaxed at the sound of his father’s demand. His voice was raspy, as if he had been shouting. A warm palm pressed to his cheek. “Try to rest more.”

He complied, soothed by the palpable relief radiating from Gaster’s soul.


	56. Chapter 56

He didn’t want to go back to school. Gaster made no argument. When Sans was healed up (he was lucky to still have vision in both sockets!), there was a discrete change in routine. He threw himself hard at his studies and spent many hours with Gaster in his private lab. When he was too exhausted to stay awake, Asgore picked him up at Gaster’s request, and took him to the Dreemur household to rest. He’d spend a few days there playing with Azzie before returning.

Time raced by, and one day, Sans found his gaze drawn to the tank.


	57. Chapter 57

The souling is fully formed," Gaster caught Sans' stare. "Stats?" 

"um...it's hard to see."

"Try."

Sans squinted, "atk is 1 and def is 1." 

"Normal. Those stats are bolstered by the parent soul at birth."

"uh...he's uncomfortable? too bright."

"Really? Interesting," Gaster was fixated on his notes. 

"hp is...3."

There was a thump and he spun to see his father glaring in disbelief, "Don't make up numbers, Sans."

"m'not! 3 hp!"

"Impossible. HoPe should be lower at this stage but only marginally. And my readings of the soul composition imply stability…"

"he is stable."

"...As you say…"


	58. Chapter 58

"Gaster, it's Gyftmas Eve. You promised to spend it with us," Toriel chided through the phone.

"Tomorrow. I have important work to do."

"One of these days my husband will actually ask what it is you're doing with your private research funds…" she muttered.

"He knows what I am researching. Same thing as Web."

"Yet what do you have to show for it?" When Gaster fell silent, her tone softened. "Apologies. That was improper of me."

"It is fine, Toriel. Sans and I will be over tomorrow." He tapped disconnect and dialed a new number. "Dr. Web. It is time."


	59. Chapter 59

Sans peeked from the corner of the room he was delegated to as the delicate procedure began. Gaster extracted the tiny babybones from the tank as Sans watched his vitals from a distance. He fit in his dad's hands. Significantly smaller than Asriel when he was born. But it was Web's role that was key. The stern scientist looked almost boyish, awkwardly accepting the damp bundle as he summoned his soul to the surface. Gaster coughed and looked away. Sans stared. A fascinating thing the first impression of magic on a newborn. Stats climbed up from the surge…

**HP 5**


	60. Chapter 60

Web and Gaster spent the rest of Gyftmas Eve discussing the babybones. Red, as he was named, slept, barely making a sound through the rest of the night. When the scientist left, and Sans sworn to the same secrecy as always, Gaster took him home.

The next morning all was back to almost normal.

They opened presents. He got a few minutes to call Minnie. And Toriel found some time to be alone with the adults as Sans played with Azzie. Kid was getting big! 

"Are you certain about this, my friend?" Toriel said.

"Yes. He will thrive in academia."


	61. Chapter 61

Tests. So many tests. Tests for language skills. Tests for mathematics. Tests for theoretical physics...okay, that last one was rather fun. Sans didn't question the university's scrutiny, because for all he was the son of the monster community's greatest mind, he was still a child. He met the Dean. Gaster muffled a groan when Sans showed him his favorite trap puzzle, because he forgot that one of the consequences of failure was a fart noise. 

Fortunately the hulking earth elemental seemed amused, his low chuckle joining Sans wild' giggles. 

At the new semester's start, Sans began his probation period.


	62. Chapter 62

Sans had a helper, also known as an escort. The sheep lady was installed at his side at the university’s insistence, just to make sure Sans found his way around and wasn’t given any trouble on campus. He got a few stares when he entered lecture halls and the occasional query of whose kid he was, but for the most part, both students and faculty let him be. 

To his surprise, however, a human professor teaching introduction to robotics, paused at his name on the student list. After class Sans learned the man followed his father’s work involving the CORE.


	63. Chapter 63

“Really, the kid is in our group?”

“Hey, he must be really smart if he’s here.”

“My buddy has Bio with him. Kid aced the first test of the semester.”

“Biology has nothing to do with robotics!”

“Is there a problem?” The trio of students stopped their whispering and looked up at the professor. Sans stood awkwardly nearby, shuffling his feet. He’d been doing so so much today that his laces had long since come undone. 

“No sir,” choursed the humans. Sans wondered, idly, why he wasn’t grouped with other monsters. 

“Good. Sans is a student just like you all.”


	64. Chapter 64

College was a lot like homeschooling plus a hundred of his closest not-friends, though funny enough with fewer tests. While Gaster was certain Sans could thesis his way into a master's program, Sans was content with finding new routine in a learning environment. Sure, he knew a ridiculous amount about math, the CORE and a handful of science subjects. But aside from his fascination with stars, none of it inspired new, powerful ideas.

So he attended classes with zeal. Studied. Chatted. Tried to relate to his new peers.

And ignored the growing ache of isolation that implanted itself years ago.


	65. Chapter 65

"Finally we get to build a robot!"

"Heck yeah."

"Battle of the grabby arms coming to a classroom near you!"

The three young adults chatted about their plans and started dividing up the work when the nicer guy in the group remembered Sans, "So uh, what part do you wanna do, kid?"

"i like building. though the programming would be simple enough. oh, and i have a design to use if ya want." Sans held up his notebook. The nice human was wide-eyed.

"How…?"

"m'dad designed the core using monster puzzle theory. engineering is similar to how we think naturally."


	66. Chapter 66

Sans helped make a perfectly functional battle robot. Which earned a titter of confusion and amusement when they demonstrated how well their simple claw arm (which was supposed to pick up a soda can) was able to chuck colas at its target. They may have lost some points for making a mess during the demonstration, but there was a smile on the professor's face and the guys in his group whooped with excitement. 

It was a good day.

Good enough that he didn't notice Minnie hadn't called like she usually did, and he finally felt like he was fitting in.


	67. Chapter 67

When one was a Gaster, he did not merely achieve, he strived for excellence. Which was how Toriel found Sans pouring over books during Spring Break despite having finished his coursework. Given it was her house he was in...she casually foisted Asriel onto him, and watched as Sans' demeanour shifted. Unlike his father, Sans had an almost natural way with little ones. 

He pulled Azzie onto his lap and began proof reading his essay aloud in silly voices.

It was easy to forget the skeleton was barely ten. They grew up so fast, and Sans was sprinting towards adulthood.


	68. Chapter 68

Sans was twelve and when Toriel brought home the first foster. Azzie was a crybaby toddler that broke into tears whenever he was scared or sad...or too happy. And oh, there were tears when he saw his Mama holding the hand of a young, green-souled human of no more than six. Sans, used to playing babysitter and ahead on his reading for class, broke out his favorite joke book.

Apparently the boy liked cooking.

And sticking his hands into Sans' sockets.

"eye see you like my face," he quipped, removing the questing appendage. "but look instead of touch, kiddo."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time skip. =)


	69. Chapter 69

“sup web,” Sans greeted as he left the lab after his yearly health inspection. Gaster grumbled something about glasses before dismissing him. The scarred skeleton in the hall flinched, the papers in his hands scattering to the floor. “yeesh, didn’t mean to scare you outta your skin. you okay there, doc?”

“I am fine.” He stared at the papers, fingers pressing at his temples. 

“you look like dad when he tries to quit smoking.”

“You need to improve your flattery.”

“when you improve your face.”

Web glared, “Must you be such a teenager?”

Sans’ grin broadened, “so what’cha workin’ on?”


	70. Chapter 70

With a gruff “none of your business”, Web tried to escape Sans, but the younger skeleton had a pep to his step and curiosity clawing at his skull. Web was a strange one. Probably just as smart as Gaster, but too hyper focused and tempermental to be a leader in the science community, preferring his privacy and quiet. Yet he accepted the offer for the kinda cloning. 

“how’s your mini-me?”

“...Red is developing normally.”

“not what i asked but okay.”

“Must you follow me?” Web groused, looming lean and ominous in a doorway.

“nope. but it’s fun and i’m bored.”


	71. Chapter 71

When he wasn't in class or harassing Web at work, he was often at the Dreemeur house, studying for his masters degree while entertaining small children. Toriel seemed to like a house full of little ones, so it was never long after a foster left her care that a new one arrived. The latest? A girl Azzie's age with a cyan patience soul. Apparently Tori wanted to foster her older brother as well if things went to plan.

"What you readin'?" asked the girl as Sans settled with a textbook.

"theoretical physics."

"What's that?"

"Boring science and math!" Azzie groused.


	72. Chapter 72

Summer arrived harsh and hot, but as a skeleton, the heat went right through him. Thus Sans found himself trailing behind Azzie and his temporary human sibling as they rushed towards the playground equipment at the local park. All was well...until the screaming started. Sans bristled and searched for the pair, spotting his charges on the swings, the aptly named Patience, wailing as a larger boy kicked Asriel to the ground.

"Stop! Stop!" she pleaded, only to get shoved away.

Sans rushed to them and yanked the boys off Azzie with blue magic.

"Leave my son alone, you freak!"


	73. Chapter 73

Sans never knew a world where monsters were at war with humans. He was vaguely aware of the fact that monsters tended to keep to their own, though far from apart from humans. He went to school with humans. Toriel fostered humans. Humans and monsters lived and worked side-by-side. But there were always outliers. Driven by some unspoken fear or cruelty. 

There was a wail. A sob. A scream. 

Sans wrapped his arms defensively around the kids. Magic surging. Instead of a barrier of bones erupting, there was a tug, a pull and a snap. And the world went black.


	74. Chapter 74

Cold.

He was cold.

It was dark.

So dark.

Fear. 

Desperation. 

Home.

Safe.

He needed to get home. 

He needed to find Toriel. 

To find his Father.

Anyone.

Help.

Lost.

He was lost.

Scared.

But he needed to get the kids home. Himself home. Home. 

He drew in a sharp breath, light and sound all returning in a snap. 

“Sans?” Oh, this was the lab. Hello dad. In his arms were the kids, safe and sound, even if they were shivering and crying. It was okay. He peered up at Gaster and smiled before he lost his hold on consciousness.


	75. Chapter 75

He woke up that evening to Gaster hunched over in a chair by his bed, smelling strongly of cigarettes with a pen lodged in his teeth as he 'worked'. 

"hey pops, how's it hangin'?"

The pen clattered to the floor, "You're awake! You little idiot, what were you thinking exhausting yourself like that? What was THAT? Teleportation?"

Sans chuckled, "dad, i'm okay. and...i was thinking of home. and gettin' the kids somewhere safe… guess some part of me was like 'i need my old man right now' y'know? sorry i worried you."

Gaster silently laid his forehead against Sans'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gaster seems pretty rattled...


	76. Chapter 76

Magic exhaustion. 

It was a dangerous state for a monster since one could burn out their soul if they pushed beyond the fatigue. But it was an astounding feat for someone like Sans to be in such a way, given his mana pool ran vast and deep. Gaster couldn’t explain the physics of it. Sans just wanted sleep. And while the kids were safe and had no idea of how they came to be in the lab, Sans dreamed of cold and darkness. Of prying apart the threads that held together the universe and slipping between into the fathomless Void.


	77. Chapter 77

Sans woke to someone poking his face. He cracked open an eyelid to see twin crimson dots peering incredulously back at him. It took a moment to process, but he realized it was a babybones...one whose magic resembled Web’s. “red?” he murmured. The babybone flashed a cheeky, toothy smile. Then he scuttled off, giggling like he just stole a cookie before supper. A minute later, Web stepped into the room, coffee in hand, looking haggard as ever.

“hey web,” Sans croaked. “where’s my old man?”

The scientist startled, coffee sloshing onto his sleeve, “He’s...sleeping. You’re stuck with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little cameo for y'all. ;) Someone couldn't get a sitter by the look of it.


	78. Chapter 78

Web gave Sans coffee and helped him sit up, both things that would have probably had Gaster on a rant. After checking his vitals with a grunt of "I'm not a star dustin'' nurse", Web declared Sans fit enough to stand up if he wanted, and pulled a folder from his inventory. "The Dreemurs want to see you, but Asgore is too nice to use his keycard to get in here despite owning the whole place. So here's some reading material, I've got business to take care of."

Sans took the folder, "determination theory, my favorite. thanks felldingo."

Web glowered.


	79. Chapter 79

When he was recovered enough to stand without swaying, Sans visited the Dreemurs, Gaster at his side, the older scientist fussing with a lighter in his pocket. Apparently his son having a second brush with death was a little much for him on top of everything else.

"Sans! Oh my child, come here," Toriel gathered him up, and Sans went limp,his feet no longer on the floor.

"Tori, let the boy breathe," Asgore chuckled. "Gaster. Sans. Good to see you both."

Sans let Toriel carry him inside. Once there, Azzie and Patience rushed up. Sans smiled. All was well.


	80. Chapter 80

"i want to try again."

They were at the lab, which was more often that at home these days, Sans having become an aide of sorts for Gaster. His dad looked up from the CORE piece he was picking apart after it was damaged and needed replacing last week. "Try what again?" he adjusted his glasses. "Your experiment?"

"nah. 'porting."

Gaster dropped a screwdriver with a muttered curse, "What?!"

"aren't you curious?"

"You nearly dusted!"

"yeah, but i have a theory."

"No. I forbid it."

"can't really stop me," Sans sassed. "so, you wanna be supportive instead?"

Gaster's face dropped.


	81. Chapter 81

Turned out teleporting wasn't exactly the simplest thing to replicate in a laboratory setting. He tried and tried, even when Gaster stepped away to do his actual job, to no avail. Apparently breaking known laws of physics required a little more than childish stubbornness and an excess of mana. 

It wasn't until the new semester was upon him that they had a breakthrough. Sans, frustrated and tempted to swipe one of his dad's smokes, got into a shouting match with Gaster about delaying the project until winter break. Wanting away from him, Sans stormed through the lab door and froze…


	82. Chapter 82

It was the park.

He wanted away from Gaster, away from the lab, his mind trailing back to that day when he defied known physics in order to protect the kids. His legs trembled and buckled, leaving Sans to drop to his knees in the grass. 

He was tired, yes, but…he was okay. No passing out. No pain. Just a lingering chill of passing through something he couldn't name. Sans stayed there, on the ground, for a long while, before standing up and grinning.

"dad owes me 50g." Sans laughed, taking in his situation. "now...can i get back?"


	83. Chapter 83

It took 30 minutes and staggering amount of mana, but Sans stepped through that strange void once more, the transition a little rougher than before but far more graceful than the first time. He emerged in the same doorway he exited and found himself face-to-face with a pale Gaster, phone at the acoustic meatus.

“heya pops,” Sans said, swaying a bit drunkenly. “i figure out this whole teleportation thing, i think. by the way, doors make this waaaaaay easier.”

“Where did you go? Why didn’t you answer?”

“....uh, i think it’s still on silent because soooooomeone didn’t like the interruptions.”


	84. Chapter 84

Sans acted a little punch drunk for a while as Gaster forced a bag of chisps on him as well as a cup of coffee. One might say giving a thirteen year old coffee was a bad idea, could stunt their growth and all that. Too bad for them that Sans already reached his adult height according to his bone growth chart and he was a shortie happy to chug down the energy. 

“Are you certain you do not feel faint?” Gaster asked for the millionth time as he inspected Sans, as if he expected him to melt or something.


	85. Chapter 85

Shortcuts became a part of Sans' routine. Like working a muscle, it became easier with practice and there were certain quirks to it that helped conserve energy. Regardless, it was still exhausting to use across long distances, especially without doorways or corners, and sometimes multiple jumps were easier than one long one.

Let it be said that Sans used this new skill extensively as he entered a new year at college, a master program in his sights. Gaster lamented that Sans didn't pursue a higher degree earlier, but Toriel and the Dean agreed it was better this way for Sans.


	86. Chapter 86

"sup."

The receptionist waved Sans in as he swiped his keycard. Clad in a white coat over his sweats, he shuffled into the CORE's labs. At fourteen he was old enough to hold a paying job without inciting any child labor law violations and by fifteen, he was known for his work as much as his relation to Gaster. 

His reputation? Like father, like son. A workaholic that didn't always know when to quit. If he wasn't working on his thesis, he was holding his own in meetings. Expectations and hopes were high for the young skeleton named Sans Gaster.


	87. Chapter 87

"hey g, i'm gonna switch majors. this whole physics thing is for the birds. theatre is where it's at."

Gaster burnt himself as he dropped the soldering tool he was using. He whipped around to glare at Sans, who stood with hands in his pockets, groucho glasses on. Sans snickered.

"I disown you. You're not my son," he deadpanned.

"don't crush my dreams of being a stand up comedian, pops." Sans sighed.

"You're not getting out of your thesis presentation, Sans."

"but daaaaaad."

Gaster rubbed his temples, grumbling as Sans winked and turned away, "fine. guess i'll graduate then. killjoy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy April Fools Day~


	88. Chapter 88

Sans didn't expect the reporters. But maybe he should have. Gaster sheltered him quite a bit from the notoriety, but it seemed that his graduation wasn't safe. His eyelights went small but Gaster stepped up behind him, seemingly bored with their presence. "They will bore soon enough," he said. "It isn't every day my son earns his master's degree at sixteen." There was curiosity and perhaps a little hope in the faces of the monsters trying to get the 'scoop' on Gaster's prodigy.

Sans realized then that monsterkind had steep expectations. They wondered if he too would change the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally reach the scene from HwC that Red finds pictures of. G and the Dreemurs have worked more behind the scenes to keep certain attention away from Sans, but they are influential and downright famous people in the monster community. Sans had to fully realize that eventually.


	89. Chapter 89

Sans stayed in school. Pursuing further education and more degrees was his choice, even if Gaster said that they were irrelevant. Asgore would be a fool not to hire him full time even without his doctorate. But Sans liked learning. The university was like a second home to him. He practically lived there for years. What was a few more? But oh, what to do his doctorate thesis on?

“You will be researching Determination here at the CORE, why not let that work serve a dual purpose,” Gaster suggested.

“that’s a good idea, pops.”

“Of course it is.”

“heh. yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> +A little reminder that Sans was called Dr. Sans by the judges in HwC!


	90. Chapter 90

Work and school consumed Sans. It was a strange high that only a fellow workaholic could explain or understand. The need and the urgency to make progress, sleep and food and even relationships put aside in the name of ambition. Of course, sixteen was a tumultuous age, no matter how much of an adult Sans tried to be. It started small at first, tossing fitfully even when exhaustion demanded he rest, the small of food almost nauseating. It was fine. He was fine. The voice in his head told him so. 

Just a little bit longer, then he would sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hearing voices is not too uncommon. 
> 
> But that may be the insomnia talking.


	91. Chapter 91

“Kid, what the hell are you doing in here?”

Sans blinked owlishly at Webdings, who also wasn’t supposed to be here at this hour of night. Well, he wasn’t disallowed, but the guy had a son at home. And...he eyed the bottle in Web’s hand and the papers littering the floor. Some were crumpled and ripped. Behind him was the infamous ‘trash can’, as Gaster liked to call it, its metal guts spilling out, oil dripping ominously into a puddle below.

“uh...couldn’t sleep,” he spotted shards of glass. “i saw the light was on.”

“Get out.”

“nah, felldingo.”


	92. Chapter 92

Ignoring Web's scowl, Sans picked around the lab and took note of the scientist's phone on the table. He swiped it, earning a snarl as Sans 'accidentally' opened the inventory and snagged the last bottle of beer from his boxes. He tossed the phone back to Web and backed off, beer in hand.

Web glowered, "Going to tattle to daddy?"

"nope." Sans opened the top and tipped it up. He grimaced. "bleh, dude, this tastes like wood polish." Then sipped again.

"...This isn't your first drink, is it?"

"i am in college. what do you think?"

"Bad habit."

"sure is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, bonding time?


	93. Chapter 93

"Lightweight," Web groused when Sans began to giggle about halfway through the bottle. Red eyelights shifted tiredly to the mess in the lab as he straightened up. "If you're going to be a menace, at least make yourself useful. Help me clean up."

"kay." Sans hummed as he retrieved a dustpan and broom. "so, experiment go south."

Web grunted.

"you're working with determination too. so c'mon, spill, i wanna know."

"No."

"i could help."

"No."

"dr. feeeeellll."

"How does Gaster tolerate your antics?"

"cuz i'm charming. an' funny."

He snorted.

"m'smart. i can help."

"What?"

"your machine. i can help."


	94. Chapter 94

After the lab was cleaned, Web scruffed Sans and walked them both out into the hall, "You're going home." 

"i can get myself there."

"You've been drinking."

"so have youuuuu. wait. no driving! driving baaaaaad."

"I wasn't thinking of driving," he dragged a phone from a pocket and pressed it to his skull. A few rings later then… "Oh shut your face, Gaster. I have something of yours you probably want."

"noooooo, why are you callin' daaaaaad?"

"Yes. You heard right. That was Sans. I was leaving late and found him working. Mhm. Yep. I'll keep him here."

"traitor!"

"Yep."


	95. Chapter 95

“Drinking, Sans, drinking? At the labs, your place of work, while underage. Have you lost your stars dusting mind?” Gaster spun on his heel, pinning Sans with a glare as the younger skeleton stood chastized in his bedroom. “You could get arrested. You could get us both fired. You could cause the Dreemurs a scandal. You...you could lose your scholarships and funding and ruin your LIFE Sans. You could ruin many lives! Did you even think about anyone else?”

“right, this is about you...always is…”

“Excuse me?”

“nuthin’.”

“Speak up, Sans. Look at me.”

“sorry, pops. that good’nough?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody is acting in a familiar fashion. Gaster really isn't as untouchable as he likes to act.


	96. Chapter 96

Sans wasn’t an angry teenager. Not really. If anything he was more vibrant than ever, having found a way to turn his love of jokes into sass and easy conversation with his peers. At least, that is what he told himself. What others would tell about him. But his pals around campus knew that it wasn’t the wisest course to let Sans sneak too many sips of booze at the rare party he attended. Kid would laugh and joke like a man standing at the gallows.

Nobody quite knew why.

Not even Sans.

“Dad?”

“feeling better, sans?”

“...yeah…”

“I’m glad.”


	97. Chapter 97

Eighteen was quite a birthday. With a shiny new phd, a promotion at the CORE research facilities, and an award for his findings in the field of Soul Theory (something that surprised everyone but Gaster, who knew about his gifts)—the young monster was well on his way to filling his father’s enormous shoes. Shoes that said monster was still quite happy filling himself for the time being.

Big events meant many good reasons to celebrate.

And the Dreemurs, Toriel especially, were exceptional at throwing parties. 

“sup prince fluffybuns,” Sans greeted Azzie upon arriving.

“Mom! Dad! The Gaster’s are here!”


	98. Chapter 98

As Sans mingled with the fluffy side of the family, he spotted the newest foster glaring at him. The boy was...troubled, to say the least. His orange soul held a lot of hurt and he had a bad habit of pointing toy guns and slingshots at anyone who looked at him funny. And he would scream and cry if anyone touched his cowboy hat. 

“hey buddy, enjoying the party?” Sans asked as he refrained from ruffling the boy’s blond mop of hair.

“No. It’s stupid. Like your face.”

“Brother, be nice!” Azzie reprimanded.

“You’re not my brother!”

“hey, s’okay.”


	99. Chapter 99

“grillbz? man, you actually made it? what did g do to get you out of that bar? forget to pay his tab?”

The elemental strode through the rambunctious Dreemur house with something like wistfulness on his ever-shifting face. To say he was a friend of Sans’ was pushing things, since Sans was just the annoying kid he got stuck babysitting numerous times over the years during Gaster’s lunch meetings. It didn’t hurt to think of him as a bit of a bud. Especially since he had some unspoken history with the Dreemurs that went back to the old monarchy days.


	100. Chapter 100

It was a fun day. The kitchen crowded as Toriel brought out a freshly baked cake. Laughter and groans in the air as the Dreemurs and Sans cracked bad jokes. There may have been a few tears when Grillby handed Sans a gift with a blank stare, and he opened it to reveal a literal jug of ketchup. 

"awe, i knew ya loved me," Sans quipped, hugging the elemental. 

"...it is obviously my revenge on your father," he deadpanned in return. Gaster was grimacing nearby, having never understood Sans' fascination with condiment drinking. "for making me put up with you."


	101. Chapter 101

What next?

That was the question on every tongue. Sans was an adult with a PHD, a good job and connections. As the night started to close in, he found himself quiet in contemplation. Did anything have to change just yet? 

"You have a home, brat," Gaster grumbled with something akin to humor. "With me. With the Dreemurs. Unless you want to run off."

"nah, you're stuck with me, old man. at least for a little while."

And that was that. The status quo remained the same. 

Sans kept working. Returned to school in the fall. Kept rhythm and routine.


	102. Chapter 102

"hey dadio, it's been three days. take a break. i think we could both use a nap." Sans tried to open the lab door and found it locked. Weird. Gaster usually only locked his private lab when he was away or working on extra secret stuff. "dad?" He knocked. No response. "whelp. plan b." Shortcut time.

When he stepped out of the void, it was to the sight of old machinery working anew. Tubes and pumps that Sans thought were retired. Gaster was out cold at his desk. He peeked at the papers, the calculations, "this project again, old man?"


	103. Chapter 103

Time changed all things. People, places and society itself. But for two decades, Gaster spent countless hours on this monster fertility project. It was perhaps his greatest accomplishment outside of creating the CORE and earning the title of Royal Scientist when such titles still existed. Gaster was an old monster. He lived through an age where there was constant fear that human mages would wipe out monsterkind. 

Yet in all those centuries, there remained the taboo around single parent monsters. A taboo he challenged with his determination experiments, but silently. Waiting.

But for what?

“dad? wake up.”

“Sans?”

“yeah. m’here.”


	104. Chapter 104

It was a few days later before Sans brought the subject up.

“you gonna go public with the baby machine?” he asked over a rare, father-son breakfast, causing Gaster to choke on his coffee. Guy lived on the stuff. “y’kay there, pops?”

Gaster coughed and glared at Sans, “Don’t be crass.”

“what? it’s what it is. a baby makin’ machine.”

“It is a Magic Condensing and SOUL Incubation chamber.”

“tube-a-to, tube-ato. it makes monster babies.”

“Where did I go wrong with you?”

“folks say ‘like father, like son’ so look in the mirror, old man.”

Gaster stood and walked away.


	105. Chapter 105

Research wasn’t the only thing the great minds at the CORE did, even if it was the only part of the work that ever interested Sans. He studied physics and souls with a side of puzzle engineering, so monitoring the CORE’s core wasn’t exactly exciting to him. But a loyal employee, he followed Web and Gaster as they discussed—debated—on how to improve power output without compromising the structural integrity of the powerplant itself.

“The CORE remains a cutting edge, technological marvel!” Gaster spat.

“What if something destabilized it? Reduced its efficacy?”

“Impossible.”

“What if it’s too powerful?”

“...Improbable.”


	106. Chapter 106

Sans hopped up into the barstool, beaming at Grillby. He was old enough to sit here alone without parental supervision. In fact, he arrived alone. A first. Grillby cocked his head to the side, looking for his old man. 

"hey grillbz. here by myself. had a bone-deep craving for your burgz and a bloody mary without the mary." Sans wagged his brows and Grillby sighed, placing a bottle of ketchup on the counter. "you're the best!"

"Where's your father?"

"hey, i'm eighteen. i go places without him sometimes. and he's sleeping. crashed last night hard and prolly won't wake today."


	107. Chapter 107

Sans was checking the diagnostics of the CORE when he noticed an unfamiliar yellow figure. A young lizard monster in an ill-fitting coat and coke bottle glasses. She trailed after one of the engineers, clipboard in claw. 

"Dr. Gaster!" the engineer greeted, approaching Sans. 

"hey jim, call me sans. core aint big enough for two dr. gasters," he winked at the yellow monster. "new intern?"

"Yes! This is Alphys. She's about your age, I believe, and shows great promise."

"fellow whiz kid, eh? welcome to the team," Sans cocked his head when she flushed orange. "uh, you kay?"

"She's shy."


	108. Chapter 108

Sans was heading home to study for an exam when he noticed Gaster's lab door was once more locked with Gaster inside. He rolled his eyelights and strolled his merry way through the void into the room, swaying a bit from fatigue as he emerged.

Before he could say hello, he froze. Gaster was unconscious on the floor, the cracks on his face more prominent than before, the air charged and heavy with condensed magic, reeking of ozone. 

"dad!" he dropped to kneel beside him. Gaster groaned, rousing slow and bleary. "thank angel. what happened?"

"S'ns?"

"yeah, it's me. sans."


	109. Chapter 109

Turned out that even the greatest mind born to monsterkind made errors. Sans dragged him to the Dreemurs, exhausted when he exited the void, and spent the next hour sitting by Gaster's side as Toriel worked her healing magic. She muttered about him being a stupid, foolish, careless man. It was Asgore that clarified what she meant.

"This isn't the first time he has injured himself during an experiment," he murmured, motioning to the scars that have always marred Gaster's skull. "We worry that one day…" He fell quiet. "You should rest, my boy."

"i will, king fluffybuns," Sans murmured.


	110. Chapter 110

As he waited for Gaster to wake, Sans was surprised to see a new yellow soul peeking at him from the door. She was dressed like batgirl, with yellow fighting gloves and a bandana instead of a mask. The orange souled boy grabbed her wrist and ushered her away. Siblings, he realized. He didn't know Tori was fostering two human kids now…

He curled his hands into the sheets Gaster slept upon. 

Sans didn't know a lot of things going on with his family it seemed.

With a sigh, he let his eyelids droop. Asgore was right. He should rest.


	111. Chapter 111

Sans woke when Gaster moved. The older skeleton sat up wordlessly and without complaint, a hand to his brow. They looked at one another, Sans bleary with sleep, heavy and groggy, half in a chair, half slumped on the bed, and Gaster evidently still sporting a headache. 

"hey old man," Sans rasped. "it's like, 4 am, go back to sleep."

Gaster didn't contradict him. Didn't look for a clock. It could be noon as far as either of them knew. But he laid back down and Sans sighed, sockets shutting again. 

And peacefully, they slept.

Neither rousing again until woken.


	112. Chapter 112

Gaster took a week of vacation. He NEVER took his vacation time unless forced. Sans went to school, went to work, and came home each day to find the older skeleton lost in thought. It wasn’t the deep, studious thought of a man with a million ideas and a manic sense of urgency. He didn’t write things down, mutter or pace. There wasn't crumpling of paper or tinkering with machines. 

He was just an old, tired monster with his spare pair of glasses left on his bedside table, his eyelights fixed on nothing as he smoked on the back porch.


	113. Chapter 113

“so what happened?” 

“What are you referring to, Sans?”

Sans narrowed his sockets and made a broad motion at Gaster as he flicked the cherry from his cig. His father snuffed the rest of the death stick under his heel. “this. you. this isn’t like you. and your experiments don’t blow up in your face. if what you did happened to me, you’d be crawling up my pelvis for bein’ careless.” 

“I have been informed that rest prevents most incidents.”

“yeah, but why did the message stick now?” Sans challenged. “and what were you doin’ with the baby makin’ machine?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We had a few hints up to this point that Gaster's injury was a result of experimenting with the 'baby making machine' as Sans likes to call the Magic Condenser. Including the incubation tubes and other related machines being functional again, Gaster becoming secretive and locking his lab, and Sans' mention of condensed magic in the air when he found Gaster unconcious.


	114. Chapter 114

When Gaster didn't answer, Sans swiped the cigarette carton from the railing, but when he reached for the lighter, his dad snatched it away, "Those are bad for you." Sans lazily arched a brow. "What?"

"i'm an adult."

"And I'm your parent."

"so act like it," Sans crumpled the pack in his palm, sighing. "dad, seriously, what happened? i'm allowed to be concerned about you too."

"A mistake. Obviously." Sans stared at him and Gaster relented. "I had a theory. One that could aid in the feasibility of general fertility treatments."

"oh?"

"More may be receptive to a soulborn souling."


	115. Chapter 115

“so are you trying to get preggers or something?” Sans drawled, squinting through the numbers to get a better look at his dad’s soul. Gaster sputtered and gaped.

“No, you insolent child!”

“suuuuure. how were you gonna do a trial run on this new theory of yours? because you have a little something called a record of self experimentation,” Sans jabbed a thumb at himself.

“You were an accident, and you very well know that,” Gaster groused. “I wasn’t expecting my experiment to be successful so early on.”

“what if another catastrophic success happened?”

“It wouldn’t have.”

“no?”

“...No…”

"oh."


	116. Chapter 116

It wasn't until later, much later, that Sans wandered from his bedroom, unable to sleep, to find Gaster awake and still brooding. His fingers traced the cracks on his skull, and subconsciously, Sans traced the delicate lines on his soul with his eyelights. 

"i can help," he offered. 

Gaster flinched, and didn't look at him, "Don't be ridiculous."

"i want to help."

"You're barely an adult and it's 2 a.m. We're not talking about this."

"you need help," Sans pleaded, soft. "so you don't get hurt again. and...and maybe...i wanna do this for me too."

"No, Sans."


	117. Chapter 117

To say things were tense was an understatement. Gaster refused to discuss his project and at the soft command by Asgore to not work alone on experiments that could cause him bodily harm, he locked his personal lab and worked on the CORE and public works. The greatest mind in research was on a strange strike, in which his workaholic self found his way into everything.

It drove everyone batty.

No one wanted Gaster looming or elbowing them aside. They preferred his rare presence popping in to advise, approve or deny. Or to offer some world changing suggestion. Not...this.


	118. Chapter 118

“dunno what to do grillbz,” Sans confessed, skull propped on crossed arms, one phalange nudging a half-drunk bottle of ketchup on the bar. He groaned and buried his face. Gaster was always high-strung, direct and demanding. Sans already went through the emotional loop of having such a person for a father when he was a kid. But now? This was new. He could walk side-by-side the Gaster he grew up with, head held high, aware of exactly how to make him smile or sigh. This new Gaster was frustrating. 

“Get him back to his research,” was Grillby’s reply.

If only...


	119. Chapter 119

The tipping point came after midterms. Sans was offered a job teaching at the university he studied at for most his life. They couldn’t offer much pay but he could continue in academia nearly free and collect degrees if he so wished. Sans was baffled. Him. A teacher? He would have to quit the CORE. With no promises made, he went home, telling Gaster in passing about the offer, chuckling as he had some late night coffee and popcorn. 

“You should do it,” he said.

“what?”

“You enjoy academia, it would be a logical change in career.”

Sans’ soul ached.


	120. Chapter 120

The semester ended. He turned down the job offer. The staff at the CORE was ready to push Gaster into the heart of his creation. And Sans had enough. 

"i'm gonna steal your notes and work on the baby machine myself," Sans declared. 

Gaster choked on his coffee, "You wouldn't dare! Sans! Sans get over…" He was cut off as Sans stepped through the void and into the lab. Dust had gathered. The machines were quiet. It wasn't hard to access his father's research. Not for him. He was mostly done reading about his own creation when Gaster burst in.


	121. Chapter 121

The mechanics behind his own birth were fascinating. Revolutionary. Gaster figured out how to not only extract donor magic and keep it stable in large quantities, but also how to condense all that raw energy into a tiny spot the size of a pinhead without exploding himself and everyone in a two block radius. Apparently he was testing the stability of the machine and Sans soul spontaneously formed from the spec, as if two monster souls had resonated perfectly when touching. Gaster quite literally replicated true Resonance.

And magic, being changeable by nature, unlike DNA, resulted in non-identical, biological offspring.


	122. Chapter 122

"You should be fired for this trespass," Gaster threatened. Sans lifted a brow to his blustering, then eased out of the chair to idle by the machinery. 

"dad, what happened? why did you put this project aside? why pick it up again? why quit all your research together after the accident?"

Gaster held the papers close to his chest with a stern frown, "It doesn't matter. And it doesn't involve you."

"yes it does! it always has!" Sans whirled. "talk to me. let me help."

"...You don't know what you're asking."

"yeah. i do. let's change the world, dad. together."


	123. Chapter 123

“i can see souls. that means i could monitor it before even your machines could.”

“i’m already an experiment, what’s a few more tests?”

“c’mon, i have more hp than you and no lv.”

“look, i already have a few theories about how to create a souling without a transplant of donor material to act as a core. after all, the condensed magic will be focused back into the donor soul instead of kept outside in a capsule and…”

Gaster stubbornly ignored Sans, shaking his head, gathering up papers. Then Sans said—

“you really don’t trust me, do you, G?”


	124. Chapter 124

"It isn't a matter of trust," Gaster murmured, papers crinkling in his hands. "It is a matter of principal. You are my child, Sans. And though I cannot claim to be the best father, I have tried to do right by you. Letting you get involved in this, and it being your ruin, would be a sin too heavy on my soul."

"and what if it succeeds beyond imagination?"

"...Then success alone may very well be the only reward."

They were silent until Sans piped up, smile soft, "i kinda always wanted a little brother." 

"...Hmph…Go home, Sans."

"sure."


	125. Chapter 125

Normality slowly returned.

Gaster went back to his research, much to the relief of the entire CORE staff, and Sans made time to make sure EVERYONE in his little family was doing alright. He pestered Gaster into going home and spent weekends babysitting for Toriel. Not that Azzie liked being ‘babysat’, but if he had to be, uncle Sans was tolerable. Apparently the kid was into football. Really, really into football. As in, Asgore was already talking about future colleges where the fuzzball could possibly play for in the future.

At work, Sans even had a whole conversation with Alphys!


	126. Chapter 126

For the first time since he was a small child, Sans realized he had friends. Honest to god friends. Not just peers or classmates. But friends. Grillby would probably only admit it under threat of dumping him in the nearest river, but he always kept ketchup under the counter, and once let Sans sleep on his couch when he didn’t want to go home. And Alph? It was a slower, smaller thing, but Sans found one conversation turning into an invite to watch anime. Her parents practically lost their giddy minds when they realized their little Alphy had a guest.


	127. Chapter 127

The thing about mostly living at academia is that eventually, you become a part of it. Sure Sans wasn't a professor, but it wasn't uncommon for random freshman to know his name. He was more than Gaster's son. He was Sans. The guy with a legacy on his shoulders and the brains to go far.

As he slowly added more letters to his name through the form of degrees, the more the question arose of 'what next'? And Sans couldn't tell them. He couldn't tell anyone. That he planned to help his dad change monsterkind's whole world.

Maybe one day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this chapter makes sense. Work being especially intense + budding migraine = words are a jumbled mess.


	128. Chapter 128

“S-s-sans?” Alphys stuttered out one evening after most everyone had gone home for the day. It was just them and the resident, semi-rival geniuses. “C-c-could we t-t-talk?”

“sure alph, what’s buggin’ ya?” Her stutter always worsened when she was nervous.

She tapped her claws together and adjusted her glasses, “Um, uh, well, you see...I may have d-done a thing.” Sans cocked his head. “N-not a b-b-bad thing! B-b-b-ut um…A thing. And, uh...I...maybe… let people make their own c-conclusions and d-didn’t c-correct them?”

At her sheepish, helpless smile, Sans sighed and agreed to go home with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We never saw much of Sans and Alphys' friendship in HwC. Her, like many people, were pushed away and relegated to just coworkers at best, after everything happened. 
> 
> But I do so wonder...what does a young, ambitious Alphys want to show Sans? ^_-


	129. Chapter 129

"you really know how to go big, don't you, alph?" Sans stared at the intern's creation. "so, people think he's a sentient robot?"

"S-s-sorta? They think he's an advanced ai that g-g-gained self awareness?" 

"uh, that a question, bud?"

"I tried to explain b-b-but they s-s-saw my determination hypothesis and sensed Metta's soul and, I don't know what to d-d-do!"

"huh."

Mettaton, the robot in question, gave a dramatic sigh. His boxy form was surprisingly emotive for a machine being haunted by a ghost. Impressive engineering.

"Alphys, darling, I can't languish here all day. I want to be a star!"


	130. Chapter 130

Sans ran a few tests. Tests that only a guy that could see souls who also had a history in soul theory, could do. And it was then that he realized something. “He’s fused,” Sans stared at the matrix holding Mettaton’s core. The ghost’s white soul glimmered pink with determination. Sometimes, when they found the proper host, ghost monsters would fuse with their shell, and in turn become something closer to a golem, but it was rare. Very rare. So rare Sans had only read of accounts of it occurring. 

“Well, doctor~?”

“s-s-sans?”

“uh, well, congrats. it’s a robot monster?”


	131. Chapter 131

There wasn’t much Sans could do for Alphys beyond telling her that if Metta wanted any alterations to his body, that it was possible, but risky, and would involve removing the soul housing from the robot’s shell. And that any changes had best be done within the next few years before the fusing saturated the shell and converted it into magic, like a proper monster body.

She stuttered out a thanks and he left her to sort out her own drama. Poor kid. She was in pretty deep. At least the fusing made it near impossible to out the misunderstanding.


	132. Chapter 132

A few things happened when eighteen became nineteen and then slipped away into twenty. A certain robot appeared on a reality tv show. Alphys graduated. Toriel fostered an angry little girl that loved ballet. Asriel’s obsession with football deepened…

And Sans discovered why Gaster hadn’t been afraid of an accidental success with the baby machine. 

“dad, what the hell happened to your soul?” he choked out, dropping his clipboard, having caught the man holding it outside of his body. Something you didn’t just do willy nilly! Lab or no lab. Gaster flinched. “explain yourself. right now.”

“Close the door, Sans.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \+ This chapter references how Sans needs to see a Soul in an encounter to get a proper look at them. His special sight is mostly words and numbers and doesn't give the clearest view of the soul's shape, health or composition.


	133. Chapter 133

Long ago, there were two races at the cusp of war. Humans and monsters. The fighting was brutal and ugly. Though Gaster was but little more than a child, he was far from untouched by the conflict. A great mind, his teachers said, strong magic. Children aren’t supposed to advise kings or kill in the name of queen and country. 

“that explains the lv but…”

Gaster hid his scarred soul away, fingers spanning his sternum, “I wasn’t made for war, Sans. No more than you or any monster.” His shoulders dropped. “I sold my soul for the good of monsterkind.”


	134. Chapter 134

"how were you plannin' on going forward with this project if you couldn't…?" Sans trailed off, staring at the magic condenser that was his place of origin. 

"It was an old man's idle fantasy," Gaster murmured. 

"nothing is idle with you."

"Fine. Obsession then. A temporary search for the impossible."

Sans laid a hand on his own sternum, "let me do it. for me if not for you."

"Your soul is normal, Sans."

"y'sure? why not let me try?"

"We talked about this."

"and I still say I can do it. if it fails, no harm done. if it succeeds…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is the worst that can happen?


	135. Chapter 135

Crazy. Insane. Immoral.

These were all words that came to mind when he saw the stubbornness in Gaster’s eyes fade to resignation, and Sans allowed himself to consider exactly what he was arguing to do. He’d previously used this same logic to get Gaster back to his research, little else coming from their discussion. But this time...something was different. There was a static. A change. A shift. Gaster had forged this research to help the Dreemurs conceive a child they ended up having on their own. 

Now Sans stood before him, not asking, but demanding more.

Answers. Trust. Faith.


	136. Chapter 136

Gaster stared at his son. At the machine hooked up to him. He listened to the steady beat of his soul. He watched the young man smile up at him from where he laid, trusting, too trusting, in him. Today was the first trial run. Days turned months, Sans running himself ragged between work, school and donating magic. Magic stained his sockets.

"We don't have to proceed," Gaster warned.

"it's okay, old man, i trust you."

Steeling his spine and schooling his expression, Gaster summoned Sans' soul and sent a lonely prayer to the Angel that forsook monsterkind long ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tiiiiime skip.


	137. Chapter 137

Failure.

Sans knew in an instant. Magic sloughed away from his overfull soul, sparking along manalines, leaving him nauseous and curled in a ball. Gaster turned off the machines and offered a tentative embrace. Sans clung to his father.

"hurts."

"Magic overflow," Gaster murmured. "You need to disperse the excess."

"might break stuff."

Gaster gathered Sans up and took him to the rarely used wellness room nearby. There was a sink and a cot and it was pitch black save for Sans' own Glow.

"Let go."

"leave."

Gaster complied. He shuddered as Sans released control...and completely wrecked the room.


	138. Chapter 138

When Sans was a child, he cried when he encountered people with LV. As he grew older, he was able to use his special talent to see beyond the number alone. What Sans didn't know, because Gaster certainly wasn't going to tell the boy, was how his magic felt washing over him. Caustic. Hot. Judgmental. Air tasting of vinegar and spite. Leaving him drowning in old regrets. Eyesockets damp with shame.

He fought back unbidden tears as Sans released the excess magic into the air. Thick and unfocused as fog. The feelings wouldn't pass until days later.

Round two began.


	139. Chapter 139

“You can quit any time.”

“i know.”

“Asgore wants to promote you.”

“i know.”

“The school would likely accept you as a professor despite turning them down.”

“probably.”

“Sans.”

“dad.”

“Sans, this could dust you.”

“and a bus could hit me tomorrow. i’m fine.”

“...I would like to take smaller samples over a longer period of time.”

“okay.”

“No drinking!”

“okay.”

“And for stars sake, get some sleep, boy.”

“you first, old man.”

“how do you feel?”

“fine.”

“No. No. How...how are YOU?”

“...heh. bone tired. would need a skele-ton of coffee to keep my sockets open much longer.”


	140. Chapter 140

“hey grillbz, i want a bloody mary!”

Sans was strung out, tense and 21. Another failed session led to him spending the gyftmas holiday with the Dreemurs fussing over him and his ‘mana fatigue’. As he rested, Tori decided to be the embarrassing mom and show Azzie and her latest foster girl the scrapbook she made of Sans’ accomplishments. It was a box full of news clippings and photographs, awards and diplomas. 

He still felt awful, and he hadn’t had a drink in over a year. Now he was legal and could buy his own. 

Grillby complied, his gaze indescribable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, are you getting email notifications for these updates right now while the archive is updating? I'm personally not getting emails for anything BUT fic updates. So no comment messages or 'day in review' to check kudoses, etc.


	141. Chapter 141

“grillbz, yer hot, yer know that?” Sans slurred as he tipped back his third drink. It was a quiet night and the elemental was learning how much of a lightweight the skeleton was. “i buuuuuuurn for youuuuu.”

“I think you’ve had enough.”

“awe, but it’s my birthday!”

“Call someone to get you or I will.”

Sans sniffed and laid his head on the bar, “m’sorry, don’t make me leave.”

“Sans, you’ve spent the past hour having an existential crisis or flirting with me. I’m concerned.”

“...zit wrong to ask fer a birthday smooch from my flamin’ hot bestie?”

“...you’re drunk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \+ In HwC Sans mentions kissing Grillby six months before the events of the story, when he was feeling cold and lonely. Our boy is at a bit of a low point here as well, but certainly isn't as far gone as to do more than flirt with his favorite bartender.


	142. Chapter 142

Sans called someone on his own. Not Toriel, he didn't want to see the disappointment in her eyes. Not Asgore, fluffybuns waa still his boss. Alphys didn't need to deal with him when he was like this. And his dad? No.

"Sans why are you calling me at this stars dusting hour of the night?"

"heeeeeeey web. buddy. pal. i uh, need a ride home."

"..."

"web?"

"Call your father!"

"nooooooo. he'll be mad at meeeeee. and. and. it's my birthday."

"And you are drunk and alone where exactly?"

"grillbz!"

"Gaster you idiot."

"me or dad?"

"Yes."

"you coming?"

"...Regrettably yes."


	143. Chapter 143

"You're not sleeping on my couch. I have a kid that has school in the morning."

"how is red?"

"He's hitting the teenage years early," Web deadpanned.

"that bad?"

He grunted.

"tibia-fair, you shoulda expected that."

Webdings had the grace to just grumble his retort and drop Sans off at home without further complaint. As Sans eyed the door, his shoulders fell, and he looked back at his loitering coworker. 

"red smart like you?"

"hmph, of course."

"but he's in normal classes?"

Web narrowed his sockets, "Mind your own lane, Gaster."

"sans. just...i'm just sans."

"No, boy, you're not."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is in a name? 
> 
> What does it mean to live up to a legacy?
> 
> Sans is Sans. But he is also a Gaster. Web of all people isn't one to let him brush that aside.


	144. Chapter 144

Sans crawled into bed without waking up the resident insomniac. He’d spent the early part of the day with family, enjoying his birthday, and ended it alone and drunk and miserable. He really shouldn’t drink. It always left him feeling wrung out. 

With morning came the hangover and a knowing stare from his dad.

“i’m an adult,” Sans told him childishly. An adult that needed to spend the day in the shower, trying not to purge magic onto the floor. When he returned to work and saw Web, the man was dry and professional as ever. Never mentioning the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went from getting some of my emails (like subscription notices) to none. Anyone else having this issue?


	145. Chapter 145

Spending his nights donating magic for another round of testing put Sans in the unique position to know a little more about the secret projects going on. Which was how he became aware of Web's increasing number of nights in his lab, and his spike in DETERMINATION usage. Having got into a bad habit of ignoring doors, Sans shortcut into Web's lab one evening to find him surrounded by papers, defeat plain on his face.

"fellster?" Sans murmured. "buddy, you don't look too good."

"I would tell you to piss off but it wouldn't matter."

"ouch. language. we're at work."


	146. Chapter 146

Sans fished another empty beer bottle in the trash bin. This paired with Web’s posture on the floor didn’t paint the prettiest picture. “c’mon pal, you know you’re supposed to bring enough for the whole class.” Web didn’t react to the bottle dangled in his face. “uh, is there anything i can do to help?”

“You can leave.”

“no can do. haven’t you heard? i’m helpful.”

“Helpful like a hole in the head.”

“i’m not the one actin’ like i’ve had a liquid lobotomy.” 

“You’re also not the one to have twenty years of research ruined by a...a mutt!”


	147. Chapter 147

Apparently, a dog appeared in Dr. Fell’s private lab while he had been away and somehow, its very presence threw a wrench in the mechanics of space-time. At least, that was how Web described it. Sans translated that into ‘small white dog ate and or peed on very delicate machinery and corrupted top secret files’. Not exactly easily salvaged. Sans looked over the papers, “you’re building a time machine, right? you did essays before i was even born about determination theory and its relation to understanding and possibly traversing the multiverse.”

“it’s ruined now.”

“buddy, this i can help fix.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \+ Side note: This was around the point in the backstory I had in mind for Sans, when writing HwC, where the twin's backstory was changed. Sans may have been a test tube baby, but the twins weren't. In fact, one of the possible paths considered for their parentage was, briefly, Web/Sans. I'm curious if anyone would be interested in a short fic exploring this unused alternate route. Where there were no fertillity experiements done on Sans, but instead, he and Web had a brief and distinctly tragic, love affair. Wouldn't be canon, but it was a popular fan theory for a while, so I'm curious.


	148. Chapter 148

Fixing the cause of Web’s current life crisis turned out to be harder than initially suspected, but Sans gritted his teeth and kept a smile, knowing that optimism might be the only way either of them would keep their sanity. More than once Web and him got into a bitter argument, including an instance where Web tossed him out with blue magic and trapped him in a bone cage. Surprisingly, Gaster didn’t interfere. “If you wish to assist Webdings, Asgore will give you leave to do so.” Sans suspected that Gaster hoped he would distance himself from the fertility project.


	149. Chapter 149

“Do you ever get the sense that you’re living life in repeat?” Web asked one balmy summer evening. “That time itself is meaningless in the hands of some force greater than us all, with the whims and temperament of a child?”

Sans sniffed him, outright, without guile, “i don’t smell alcohol…”

Web popped him on top of the skull, “You are certainly your father’s son. Often in the worst ways.”

Sans rubbed his head and winked, “aweeee, felldingo, buddy, pal, chum. gimmie a hug my ickle webbykins!”

“Stars above, save me from these boneheads.”

“heh. good one.”


	150. Chapter 150

It was Autumn when it happened. When everything happened. Sans would look back on this day and remember it as the start of how his life ended up where it did. For worse or better. 

The excess magic his body previously rejected...settled into his soul. Compacting, compounding, condensing like the birth and death of a star.

As he rested in bed, Web called with important news. The machine was operational.

And as he tried to sleep, Sans found himself dreaming of golden hallways, dusty knives and swore the clock on the wall kept resetting back to 11:11pm when he woke up.


	151. Chapter 151

The thing about soulings is that unless one knows to look during an ENCOUNTER, it was unlikely anyone would know a monster was expecting unless said monster announced it. Thus nobody but he and Gaster knew. A secret that was in itself, a possible answer to freeing itself in the future. If the experiments worked, they may very well see the day where the single parent taboo lifted, as more monsters were able to procreate without a partner. 

But for now, Sans his father had a silent understanding.

The child would be raised as his brother, protected by Gaster’s reputation.


	152. Chapter 152

“the machine is glitching again,” Sans muttered as he scribbled down the readings and squinted at the screen once more. It wasn’t capable of traversing time (yet) but supposedly what they were seeing was the timeline of their very universe. Real meta stuff. But the lines were...atypical. Suggesting that they were not moving forward linearly. Like little hiccups (like déjà vu). Web strolled up behind him, more ragged and hunched than ever and wearing far too much cologne. Or maybe the souling was just making him sensitive to smells. 

“No. It is working flawlessly,” he breathed quietly, voice brittle.


	153. Chapter 153

Toriel mentioned she was going to foster again, and Sans thought little of it. She had brought many little kids through her home since Azzie was born. Prince Fluffybuns looked excited. He was a happy, social kid, even if he was a bit of a crybaby sometimes when anyone was less than nice back. Sans was preoccupied with his own work, his own personal secret. 

Well, until a few days later, during lunch, when he met the kids. There was a peculiar roil in his very soul, like he’d seen these kids before, just...not here, not all at once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't already, re-read 'Shattered Dishes', because we have entered a part of the story we have seen once before...but from Frisk's perspective.


	154. Chapter 154

Sans distracted himself from the uneasy feeling by chattering with his dad about research. And honestly? He was feeling pretty good. With the souling settled and family around, he found himself feeling like a peppy teenager again. The kids were...fine? He tossed a few jokes and pranked the oldest, Kris, with a whoopie cushion. Maybe it was the fact that they were all red souled that was making him nervous. That much raw determination in one room? These kids could change the world if they wanted.

Said world tilted when Frisk asked where his brother was.

“brother?” Sans asked.


	155. Chapter 155

It was like a record scratch inside his head. A screech followed by baffled silence. Brother. Why was the kid asking about a brother? Nobody knew about the experiments and...oh, wait. Heh. The kid had two siblings and they were pretty young. Maybe they were just making educated guesses. That puzzle piece slotting into place, he elbowed his father and snickered,”hey dadio, you keepin’ secrets?”

Gaster, thank god for his ice cold composure, arched a brow in response, “Always. It’s good for my reputation.”

“heh. you know,” Sans demurred, pivoting the subject, “i wouldn’t mind a little bro.”


	156. Chapter 156

The weird readings on the machine leveled out over the following weeks, and Sans managed to avoid telling Web to take a shower...more than once...He still wore too much cologne, but he changed it to a kind that didn’t make Sans want to gag. Gaster started the hovering act again, insisting that he take off time and have Toriel feed him a few good meals. (Someone was warming up to the idea of being a grandfather, result of an experiment or no.) 

And the kids? Azzie adored Kris and Chara, and Frisk was already calling Tori her mom.


	157. Chapter 157

It was all going great, the scans turning up normal, when it happened. Sans woke up and—

And everything felt wrong. Off. The date on his phone didn’t look right. The trip to the Dreemurs’ was odd. As he stepped through the doors of a home fit for the former royalty of monsters, the vertigo intensified. He leaned against his father, who frowned, “We can return home.”

“nah, just...dizzy spell. ‘appens with uh...y’know.”

“It’s too early for that,” Gaster murmured.

Together they walked into the dining room where Toriel introduced her 3 new foster kids.

Kris. Chara. Frisk.


	158. Chapter 158

When Sans staggered into work on Monday, against Gaster’s advice and wishes, he beelined for Web’s private lab. The older man wasn’t even there yet when he checked the machine. Hoping. Wishing. Praying that his disorientation was caused by nothing more than a bad’s night sleep. But that hope drained to his feet when he saw the dots and numbers blinking back at him.

“Sans?”

“the machine is acting up again, fellster,” he said, offering a strained laugh. “this bug is sure tough to squash.”

Web peered over his shoulder, “I keep telling you Sans, this is no bug.”

“oh.”


	159. Chapter 159

“Sans, sweetie, you’re not looking too good,” Toriel sat Sans down in the kitchen and dropped a plate of pie in his lap. “Eat. You’re pushing yourself too hard again, aren’t you?”

“m’fine, tori,” Sans mumbled. “i’m takin’ the semester off from school but i’ll be right back to addin’ fancy pieces of paper to your hoard of documents when this project at work eases up.”

“Asgore mentioned you aiding Dr. Fell.”

“yep.”

“Sans, if it’s too much.”

“it’s not.”

As she left the room to check on the kids, Sans rubbed his sternum and whispered, “it’s fine...i’m fine...


	160. Chapter 160

Sans woke up in a cold sweat and kicked off the sheets. Wrong. Something was wrong. The date was wrong. The time was wrong. The season was wrong. It should be...should be winter? No, spring. The kids would be getting off school soon and the souling was—

He gulped down air.

Just a dream. It had to be a dream. He was overtired and having crazy nightmares. 

But if it was all a dream, why did the human kids Toriel introduced days later look so familiar? How could he guess their names? 

“Sans.”

“sup old man?”

“Lab. After dinner.”


	161. Chapter 161

“This was a mistake.”

Sans stared at the numbers. Gaster CHECKed him just to be double certain the readings were correct. Sweat beaded along his skull and neck. “it’s a new process, doc, and i haven’t been sleepin’ the best. a couple of lost hp points isn’t the end of the world. it happens.”

“Not during—” He motioned at Sans as he floundered on the world ‘pregnancy’ like it was a sin. 

“stress. i’ve looked it up. stressed monsters will sometimes lose hp instead of gain it in order to maintain the health of the souling.”

“We will fix this.”


	162. Chapter 162

Turns out fixing it involved forcing him to take time off. Sans wasn’t sure what Gaster told Asgore, but he was ousted from the labs and told he could come back in two weeks. Never one to stay idle for too long, he found himself at the Dreemur home, babysitting the kids. He wasn’t sure what to think of the open confusion written on Frisk’s face, like he wasn’t supposed to be there. 

“hey kid. need somethin’?” Frisk shook her head, but lingered. “what’s on your mind?”

“...You not having a brother is weird.”

Sans snorted, “we can’t all have’em.”


	163. Chapter 163

The next time it happened, Sans knew. He knew because it was like a flash bang in his skull. The date. The time. Everything else was like water slipping through his fingers except the knowledge that he’d done this before. That in a few days time, he would meet three children with red souls. He shortcut into the lab and stared at the machine. Loops. They were stuck in a time loop! Unlike the past times he saw blips, he _felt_ it, like ice water in his skull. 

“An anomaly,” said Webdings, walking up behind him, having arrived.

“but how?”


	164. Chapter 164

He could barely keep up a smile. How many times exactly had he woken up like this? How many times had he gone through the same conversations with everyone but Webdings? One couldn’t call him and Fell close, but for the moment, they were the only ones who understood each other. Then it happened, Sans shortcut into the lab and collapsed, shivering and sweating, soul racing.

Web found him on the floor. 

Just stress turned out to be far worse.

He woke up to Gaster berating him...and himself. 

“Your stats. This souling's killing you.”

No, but something else was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're not to all 1's yet, but this existential crisis is hitting Sans hard and of course, he hasn't told Gaster jack all about it.


	165. Chapter 165

The air was thick with tension when Sans and Gaster arrived at the Dreemurs. Gaster had not only taken it upon himself to clear Sans’ work schedule, but outright told Asgore that it was medical leave! So of course, Toriel acted like he was dying the whole lunch, and any words between him and his father were short and clipped. It looked like one of their usual tiffs...Sans wished it were. This wasn’t something sleep could fix. 

And ending up dead was very much a possible outcome if his HoPe kept dropping. 

“Sans? You okay?”

“m’fine kiddo. just tired.”


	166. Chapter 166

Days crawled into weeks but Sans struggled to settle. Even with stable HP, Gaster kept hovering obnoxiously, leaving Sans to sneak into the labs if he wanted to do anything but sleep. Web was no closer to isolating the anomaly from the data, and they were both haggard. 

Then it happened. 

Sans was napping in the Dreemur’s living room when hushed voices reached him.

“...wrong...didn’t go through...can’t be separated...again…”

When he opened his eyes, he was in his bed, staring at the ceiling, with a nagging dread that he both knew too much and nothing at all.


	167. Chapter 167

_Steel on bone. Childish laughter. A golden hallway. Air choked with dust. He was dying. He staggered. One step. Two. His back hit a pillar and he slid to the floor. He pulled his hand from his sternum. Blood. A shadow fell over him and he peered up. Staring back was Frisk with eyes like rubies in firelight._

Sans gasped and rolled out of bed. As he hit the floor, Gaster flung open the door. The air was abuzz with dissipated magic. 

“Sans!”

“nightmare.”

He felt the CHECK and flinched.

“...Sans?” Gaster’s voice cracked.

“m’fine, pops. just need a nap.”


	168. Chapter 168

“dad if you don’t leave off i will—”

“Sans you really shouldn’t—”

“i am a grown adult and you can’t—”

“Boys, boys, now is not the time to bicker,” Toriel scolded. Gaster straightened his jacket and Sans looked away, struggling to keep his smile in place for appearances sake. When she introduced three new foster children, Sans felt a cold sweat break out on his bones.

“Are you okay?” asked Frisk.

“Tch, he’s all sweaty,” Chara snarked.

Kris stared through his overgrown bangs.

“i...i need to go,” Sans said, standing. “sorry to cut this short tori. got work...stuff.”


	169. Chapter 169

It was hard to find motivation. The reality that there was an anomaly (possibly three in the form of CHILDREN) messing with the fabric of space-time, really sucked the energy out of him. Why try when in a day or a week or a month...it would all be gone? Your progress cut at the knees. 

Sans spent far too much time napping.

Too much time staring at the machine.

Until one day, weeks later, he felt the souling stir in his chest, sensation gentle instead of painful. "heh, gotta remember i got to take care of me for you."


	170. Chapter 170

Mistake. 

That's what Gaster called it. The word stung each time he uttered it. Sans tried to argue that his HP was improving, that after the initial drop, he was recovering. Each spat left them silent. Tense. The nightmares continued...and in their wake, Sans saw raw terror in his father's face when he woke. 

He thought it was the souling's fault. 

(His own fault.)

Gaster believed he was slowly killing his son. He resented what he thought was the cause of the ailment.

He despaired.

And time marched on and on.

Until one day, Sans felt almost whole again.


	171. Chapter 171

Toriel adopted the three Determined kids. It made sense. Azzie was especially bonded with them compared to the other fosters, and the kids themselves were almost impossible to picture outside of the Dreemur home. And on top of that, the readings on the machine leveled out. They were no longer in that time loop only he and Web seemed to be aware of. 

And when summer came around again, there was a tug in Sans’ soul. It was time. After much trial and tension, little Papyrus was born, happy and hale.

A success.

One that melted even Gaster’s stoic soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (But we all know what happens next. ;_;)


	172. Chapter 172

A strange thing it was to watch Gaster carry around Papyrus. Close contact with the parent's magic was important for initial impression, and meant that for their ruse of Paps being Sans' sibling, Gaster had to be the one to go through this early development process...but that hardly made it less weird. This was his son. His little Paps.

"You're moping," a pair of hand constructs floated to Sans, holding Papyrus. Gaster kept looking over papers, as if disinterested. "We have dinner with the Dreemurs this weekend."

"got your excuses ready?"

"Hmph. I've done this before, Sans."

"heh. true."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Dreemurs didn't ask too many questions last time, but G, this is kid number two with no apparent other parent.


	173. Chapter 173

Possible anomaly Frisk looked relieved when Gaster introduced Papyrus, "You have a brother now! Good."

Sans eyed the child, "heh, yep. ya called it kid. old man was keepin' secrets. how'd you know?"

Frisk averted their eyes. Interesting. Before Sans could pry, Gaster deposited Paps in his arms as he was pulled to the side by Toriel. The Dreemurs had been tense with confusion since the start of dinner. Gaster turning up with one kid all alone was bad enough. But two? Without introducing his partner? Tori was probably hurt by the secrecy.

"Wasn't right."

"hm?"

"You without a brother…"


	174. Chapter 174

“tori still mad at you?”

“Hush. She will forgive me for the deception when the time comes to reveal our findings.”

“gotta timeline on that, pops?”

“...”

“dad?”

“I will confess I am considering...not proceeding with the project.”

“the heck? we got this far. we’re not giving up just because—”

“You could have died, Sans. The treatments obviously weakened your soul composition.”

“you can’t say it wasn’t worth it.”

Gaster looked at his son cradling his grandson in his arms. Both miracles of science and magic. 

“No...I suppose I cannot.”

“kinda kills any movin’ out plans, though.”

“It’s fine.”


	175. Chapter 175

Sans held Papyrus over his head and cooed at the babbling infant, wondering the whole time if he should just...quit. To leave the experiments and the DT projects behind and raise his son. He had savings. Good savings. And when Paps was older he could work again, maybe as a teacher or an engineering assistant. Just...live life a little slower. That would be nice. 

(Except the workaholic in him knew he couldn't walk away. Not now. Not yet.)

"don't worry, kiddo, even if i can't be your dad, i can be the best big bro you could want."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're bonding. How cute. >=]


	176. Chapter 176

“We’re going to the park!” Asriel called out. 

Sans peeked open one eye. He was napping on the Dreemur’s couch, Papyrus on his chest, on a lazy Saturday afternoon. “need me to go watch the kiddos?” He asked Toriel, who waved him off and turned the page in her book about snails. 

“It’s just the park and Asriel and Kris are teenagers. They will be fine.”

“..mhm...has nuthin’ to do with the naps you’ve been bossin’ me about taking.”

“Of course not,” Toriel replied.

As Sans settled back to sleep, soul humming happily in tune with Papyrus’—

—time stuttered.


	177. Chapter 177

When Sans cracked open a socket, he knew in an instant everything was wrong. "no." Papyrus wasn't on his chest. He was back in his bed. Sans gripped at his sternum that now ached, his very soul...oh god, his soul! "nononono." He curled in on himself. How naive of him to think it was over! It would never be over! He'd never get to see Paps grow up or the project help monsters! Sans shivered violently. He'd lost a child, one that was a souling again, but the version of Papyrus he held in his hands was gone forever!


	178. Chapter 178

Gaster found him curled up on the floor, muttering to himself, knees to sternum, trembling like a leaf in a windstorm. “Sans?” His father moved slowly and CHECKED him, inhaling sharply at what he saw. “SANS!” Gaster gathered him up, clutching him close like Sans was a babybones. There was a trickle of warmth as weak green magic settled into Sans’ bones. 

“I’m so sorry,” he muttered. “I can fix this. I have to fix this. It is still early on, we can disperse the—”

“—no!” Sans floundered, kicking Gaster in the ribs.

“Sans, the souling is killing you!”

“no!”


	179. Chapter 179

It was a pitiful fight. Gaster was a powerful monster in his own right, LV weighing heavy but hardening him all the same. And Sans? He didn’t know it at the time, but his stats were ticking down. All of them. His punches and kicks were weak, his bullets refusing to form in the wake of unstable emotions. The confrontation ended with Gaster curled around Sans on the floor, the both of them choking on tears. 

Gaster didn’t cry.

He was too logical, too clinical and rational for that.

Right?

“dad?” Sans croaked.

“Yes?”

“i need to tell you something.”


	180. Chapter 180

He told all. The research into timelines and the loops he saw in the data. The déjà vu and nightmares. The anomalies and his theories. And how he couldn’t give up on his souling. On his little Papyrus. 

“Fell?”

“he remembers some things too. i...i don’t know what to do. i don’t want to give up on either of the projects, but...paps…”

“None of it matters,” Gaster said suddenly. “You matter, Sans. Your health matters.”

“m’not giving up on paps!”

“Sans, if what you are saying is true...it is likely you will....” That he’d lose Papyrus. Repeatedly.


	181. Chapter 181

“i need to do this alone,” Sans stared hard at his father. They were expected at lunch. And they hadn’t stopped arguing since Gaster CHECKED him. The look on his face said ‘you have one chance’ and Sans took it.

He exited his shortcut covered in sweat, half nerves, half fatigue. They usually didn’t exhaust him like this…his soul jitter with anxiety and he found himself struggling to keep calm. The word felt like it was closing it. The shadows crawled.

Sans was on a wire’s edge when he pulled the children—the anomalies—aside.

Frayed nerves dragged them into an Encounter.


	182. Chapter 182

Sans curled his fingers in his shirt over where the souling rested, his fragile soul beating a frantic tempo. The kids were clearly startled and confused, but it was so easy to see the Truth, the ever present numbers swirling into focus. 

“please stop,” Sans begged them. “i don’t know how you’re doing it, but please, you have to stop.”

Frisk CHECKED him. He knew what she would see.

 **Sans**  
1HP  
*He is Falling

“Does anyone else know?” Chara demanded.

The question was as good as an answer for Sans.

“a coworker. he...he has this machine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This chapter directly aligns with the drabble **HoPe** from Shattered Dishes.


	183. Chapter 183

“promise me.” It was a quiet, desperate plea, the greyscale of the Encounter dashed with the bloody red of the trio’s determined souls. “you will stop. you won’t loop time again.” The air around them sparked with ozone, Sans’ magic unstable and swirling like a storm. He wasn’t a fighter. But he was quite literally living on a hair’s edge, any threat a potential hazard to his crumbling health.

“I promise,” Frisk murmured.

(A lie? The truth? He couldn’t tell.)

“I...I’m sorry, Sans. We didn’t know the LOADs were hurting you.”

Sans rubbed his aching sternum, “s’okay.”

It wasn’t.


	184. Chapter 184

He couldn’t Fall. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He had to hold on. For Papyrus. His Papyrus. His little, precious Papyrus. Sans curled up in bed, exhausted but terrified to sleep, as if relaxing enough to slumber would mean never rousing again. Or worse, opening his eyes to see the world thrown back yet again.

But they promised.

Frisk promised.

(The others didn’t.)

“Sans, Sans let me in.”

He shuddered and stared at the door he barred shut with bones. The shadows seemed to creep and whisper. Gaster didn’t understand. Papyrus was the only thing holding Sans together.

“Sans!”

His Papyrus.


	185. Chapter 185

“You look half dead, kid.”

“heh. take a long look in the mirror, felldingo.”

“Last I checked you were on leave for medical reasons. What the hell are you doing in the lab? Much less in MY private lab? Does your father know you’re here?” Webdings scoffed when Sans flinched. “Go home, boy. I can handle this project by myself.”

“papyrus.”

“Hm? What does your brother have to do with anything?”

“can’t...i can’t lose him again.”

There was the creeping dawn of half-formed understanding on his visage before Sans threw himself through a shortcut, timeline readings in his hands.


	186. Chapter 186

How could Fell remember everything and stay so put together? How was he not falling apart at the seams? How did he still have HoPe when Sans was clinging madly to one? 

Sans gagged as he threw his balled up hoodie into the corner of the bathroom, Web’s cologne clinging to the fabric alongside the stringent reek of bleach. Proof of where he’d been. Clean. He needed to get clean. He stepped into the steaming spray and shivered. Cold. Why was he so cold? Everything ached.

No more loops. Frisk promised. 

“i’m fine,” he chanted.

It’d never rang so hollow.


	187. Chapter 187

The thing about memories of a timeline that others forgot is how easily they took a dreamlike cast. Became twisted and murky, only solidified from the mire of nightmares and imagination by the notes scribbled on paper, physical evidence of sanity. Sometimes, he saw it in the faces of others. A conversation leading to blinking confusion. A pause accompanied by furrowed brows. They remembered, but less so. Their souls recalling what their minds could not.

Sans stuffed the notes (his obsession) under his shirt right before Gaster stepped into his room. 

The tension between them needed a chainsaw to rend.


	188. Chapter 188

Sick.

That was the best way to describe how the world treated Sans now.

But they weren’t wrong.

He was sick. Very sick. Clinging to 1HP and the desperate notion that he needed to live to see his babybones born again. He was trapped in a sort of stasis, Falling but not Fallen. Alive but was he really living? So easily he fell apart. Collapsing. Fragile. Maybe he was never that strong to start, and Frisk’s loops were just the final brick to bring the glass house down.

Sans laughed. He laughed until he crumbled into tears.

He needed Papyrus.


	189. Chapter 189

Sans hated promises.

He decided it when he woke up and saw that date and time that haunted his dreams. The betrayal and dismay cut deeper than any knife, slashing across his sternum in a smooth, violent stroke. Something broke. He felt it crack inside him. Felt it flake and crumble. He clawed off his shirt, soul pounding quick and unsteady. Wrong. Everything was wrong!

He didn’t know he was screaming until his bedroom door bounced open, Gaster immediately at his side with a CHECK.

Gaster shouted something unintelligible as Sans lost all HoPe.

He couldn’t go on without Paps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> +leaves chapter and scuttles off+
> 
> And we've technically hit rock bottom.


	190. Chapter 190

Frisk met Chara and Kris’ eyes over the table when neither Sans nor Gaster showed up lunch. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Toriel’s was haggard and pale, but she did her best to maintain a smile.

It wasn’t until the next day they knew exactly what happened. 

Gaster appeared at the door in a state of blank-faced despair. In his hands was a satchel. Trembling, he handed it to the Dreemurs, “It is only right. He would...he would have wanted you to...this home was...you were important to…”

“What happened?”

The once Fallen Humans LOADED.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are almost out of the Shattered Dishes part of the timeline. Just a little further...


	191. Chapter 191

“i don’t think i can do it again. if you care about me at all, stop this. i can’t lose him again. don’t make me lose him.”

These were the words that fell heavy from Sans when he once more faced the children. He was numb. Numb with resignation. Numb with despair. Numb with the knowledge that he was helpless to the whims of an anomaly and his own crumbling psyche. Sans extracted no promise. The kids would just break it. 

Gaster put him on medical leave.

Their ensuing arguments revealed he remembered none of Sans’ confessions about time loops.


	192. Chapter 192

“would you do me a favor, web?”

Dr. Fell idled in the doorway, coffee in hand, cracked sockets narrowed with feline suspicion, “You are on medical leave, kid. You should be at home, not here.” Not in the lab, staring at the Machine’s screen. This wasn’t the first time Sans showed up. Web wondered if he should tell Gaster about his son’s visits in the dead of night.

A cursory CHECK earned him a glare, “Your stats are a mess.”

“i’m aware,” Sans snarked. “that’s why i want to ask you something.”

“What?”

Sans laid a hand on his sternum.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \+ Chapter aligns with Ch.200 of HwC, where we see a journal entry written by Webdings about Sans' declining health and his visits to the lab


	193. Chapter 193

Fell stared at him, mandible ajar, eyelights barely more than pinpricks. Then he ground his teeth, “That bas—”

“woah, no jumping to conclusions,” Sans pleaded, not expecting a reaction like this when he asked Web to take care of Papyrus if something happened to him. Common sense an paranoia clamored for the podium in his mind—Gaster loved Paps in his usual way in the other timeline, but would Sans probable death poison that affection into resentment? 

“You’re halfway in the dustbin, kid, because of him!”

“will you or not?”

“...Don’t you dare die, brat,” Fell mumbled. “I’ll do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter notes:  
> A few things come full circle here.
> 
> \+ Web realizes that Papyrus isn't another test tube souling
> 
> \+ Web, well aware of the experiements, doesn't hop to the conclusion Sans has a secret lover, but to the experiments that resulted in Sans and Red.
> 
> \+ As such, he is angry at Gaster for performing the treatment on Sans (who he percieves as the victim of unethical science and maybe even pities a little, since it casts Gaster in the light of thinking of his son as nothing but a test subject)
> 
> \+ Sans' paranoia and hostillity towards Gaster in HwC is seen developing here, a result of circumstances as well as the cost to mental health that lost HoPe and trauma plays. But that contradictory note is also at play, since he does defend Gaster quite a bit in HwC, because while his own mental health and relationship with the man went south, another part of him is aware that his father was acting genuinely out of love and likely would care for Papyrus more than resent him. Rational just isn't his MO right now though.
> 
> \+ We also see him reaching out to Web to take care of Papyrus—the only person who understands what he is going through, when Gaster inevitably forgot everything Sans told him in the last LOAD.


	194. Chapter 194

There were no thoughts of work or school. Just a hollow emptiness that gnawed through his insides until a wild lance of desperation clawed its way out. The anomalies. The loops. The souling. Those were all that mattered. All that occupied his consciousness. Sleep was an evasive, tormented thing. Dreams scattering like dust. 

Sans’ and Gaster’s conversations all turned to arguments. 

Misplaced blame. The knowledge that nothing mattered. His bones glued together by the want to live for Papyrus, aware that his life was ultimately in the hands of children. 

He wondered if there was a point to it all.


	195. Chapter 195

Sans woke from the oblivion of exhausted unconsciousness one night with the sense that something was wrong. A familiar kind of wrong. The kind of wrong that was forever burned into memory. No. NO! Not again. He held onto that singular HP and endured so that this wouldn’t happen in the wake of unviable despair. 

Find dad, screamed one part of him.

No, he wouldn’t try to save Papyrus, argued another.

Half blind with pain, Sans threw himself through a shortcut, collapsing at the base of the Machine. By a stoke of fate, Web found him, obsessive, fractured and dying.


	196. Chapter 196

He was barely coherent. All Sans could think of were loops upon loops and the taste of dust in his mouth and those now distant memories of holding Papyrus in his arms. “Hold on,” he heard Web say. He pulled Sans close, put them chest-to-chest, and began to pour healing magic into him. Webdings wasn’t a healer. His skills with green magic were poor. But he was nothing if not determined. 

And Sans? It was all too easy to give up. He hurt. He hurt so badly.

Muffled curses and apologies were followed with a pinching pain in the arm.


	197. Chapter 197

STAY DETERMINED.

In his mind's eye there was a strange, shattering star. His magic fluxed and peaked, poured and flowed until it trickled. Dripped. The souling was no longer cleaved to his soul, but unlike the first time, the break wasn't clean. Wasn't joyous. There was a rip and a pull and it became hard to keep his head up.

Hemorrhaging. 

Magic needed to stay inside.

He blinked and saw Web covered in red. Blinked and saw a babybones in either arm. Huh. That…shouldn't have happened. The souling split. 

"take care'o'im," Sans slurred. "please."

Then he knew no more.


	198. Chapter 198

When Sans opened his sockets next, it was with great reluctance, expecting to see his alarm clock flashing that terrible, familiar time. But what he saw wasn't the four walls of his bedroom, but the inside of the tall growth chamber in Gaster's personal lab...and the owner of said lab curled in a chair nearby, a healthy babybones laid against his sternum, feeding him through the active transfer of magic.

Sans could see their names and stats scattered like constellations.

Papyrus was alive. Web had performed a miracle and somehow saved them both. Sans shuddered, falling unconscious once more.


	199. Chapter 199

It was later that same day Sans fully woke, the lull of sleep not dragging under after a few blinks of awareness. He was intensely aware of the breathing apparatus forcing oxygen into his system to keep mana flowing, as well as how eerie it was to be weightlessly suspended in fluid imbued with green magic.

Sans touched the inside of the glass.

Gaster looked up from where he was hunched at his desk. When their eyelighs met, he shot to his feet, and hurried through the process to release Sans from the chamber.

Somewhere in the background, Papyrus slept.


	200. Chapter 200

“papyrus.”

It was the first and only word in his head and out of his mouth. Gaster chided him for squirming, clutching Sans to his chest as he took him to the washroom adjacent to the lab. Sans kept up his one word mantra as his father washed his bones with a wet rag. “He’s sleeping,” Gaster said, voice clipped. “Not that he does that much, and waking him is ill advised.” Paps was a good baby. Loud. Energetic. But so happy. Rarely crying and easily soothed. 

“Sans. We...need to speak of what happened.”

“paps…”

“You should rest, however.”


	201. Chapter 201

“Your soul is cracked.”

Sans flinched. Gaster made Sans eat after cleaning him up, and then hooked him to the health monitoring machines. He knew exactly what the numbers meant from years of birthday check ups. 

“And if I have to guess, it was cracked before the souling’s birth.”

“papyrus.”

“Before Papyrus’ birth,” Gaster corrected with an arched brow. “Which created weakness along the fracture line and led to a hemorrhage of magic when one soul split from the other.” He was rigid with unspoken tension. “In short, it’s a miracle you aren’t both dust.”

“we’re alive.”

“At what cost?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Notes:  
> \+ Remember that Sans avoided everyone as much as possible in this last timeline, and Gaster has spent the past few months terrified that he was going to find Sans' dust. 
> 
> \+ Gaster is not the most emotionally available person, and right now, he is coping with the shock that he almost lost his son and grandson, and he places much of that blame on himself entirely.
> 
> \+ Sans, in contrast, is happy that Papyrus is alive and well and anyone and anything else can go away, because Paps is all that matters. (And not to a healthy degree of 'I would do anything for my son' sort of way, but in a very obsessive, coping with trauma badly kind of way)


	202. Chapter 202

After failing to get Sans to lay down and sleep, Gaster struck a deal. Sans wouldn’t stand up and would rest, and Gaster would bring Papyrus to him. The babybones slept on like a rock, dwarfed by the doctor’s tall frame. Sans choked on tears when he held Papyrus at last. 

“The Dreemurs wish to see you and your brother both when you are recovered,” Gaster said, breaking the long, strange silence. “And I wish to know exactly what the hell you were thinking avoiding proper medical treatment despite your condition.”

Sans flinched.

Gaster sighed, relenting, “Another day. Now sleep.”


	203. Chapter 203

Separation anxiety was a mild way of stating what Sans experienced whenever he woke to find Papyrus missing from his arms. Gaster told him to be reasonable, that Sans was ill and sleeping poorly, his nightmares frequent. He could hurt Papyrus if Gaster just left the babybones. And when Sans did sleep? He slept long. The kid needed to be fed. It was all so very matter-of-fact. Gaster doing little different than he did previously, yet it felt wrong. Sans couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t stand any of it!

Papyrus deserved better. 

Sans wished he knew exactly what better meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter notes:  
> \+ We're seeing Sans' paranoia and anxiety color everything. Whereas before in the prior timeline, he was fine just being the affectionate big brother, things have changed. Gaster doesn't know they've changed. Not really. And Sans can't see the forest for the trees.


	204. Chapter 204

“you gonna ask?”

Gaster declared the both of them stable enough to leave the labs, but Gaster rarely let Sans out of his sight, even going as far as to check on him in the middle of the night. Like he was afraid Sans would slip through his fingers like...like dust. Sans rarely put Paps down, complaining whenever Gaster took the infant to feed him magic that Sans was currently incapable of providing. The doctor was making his evening rounds to check on the pair, lingering, expression strained.

“Ask what?”

“what happened.”

“...Perhaps. Dr. Fell’s explanation was rather lacking.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Want to be involved with helping me choose what will be my next 100 word drabble fic? Check out this post.](https://catsitta.tumblr.com/post/624561755394392064/another-poll)
> 
> [Then take a looksie here to join a discussion about it to help me even more!](https://catsitta.tumblr.com/post/624650522723598337/discussion-time)


	205. Chapter 205

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Start of a mini arc staring Gaster and Webdings!

A grim-faced, wild-eyed Webdings woke him in the middle of the night, shouting through his phone for Gaster to get to the lab immediately. Unlike Sans, Gaster couldn’t defy physics and short cut his way there, and thus drove. He arrived to the sight of Web in a marrow and mana soaked coat, Sans fluttering soul on full display. 

“The souling came,” Web rasped. “I don’t know how long Sans will stay stable from my magic transfusion.”

Gaster was quick to set Sans up in the biotank, as well as to ask: “Where is the babybones?”

“Sleeping in my office.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AUTHOR'S NOTE:  
> +Teeny nod a certain abillity of a certain skeleton in the games when you call him. ^_-


	206. Chapter 206

Something was amiss but Gaster couldn’t place a finger on it, nor did he have time to mull over the possibilities. Webdings handed over a wailing babybones wrapped in a spare lab coat, stepping over the contents of a file cabinet drawer he dumped empty to create a makeshift crib. Fell was hiding things, but there were more urgent matters, such as how his son was almost dust and how small Papyrus was despite being carried to term.

(Had Sans been this small?)

“Why you?” Why did Sans go to the labs? To Web?

“Doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”


	207. Chapter 207

After Gaster took away Sans and Papyrus, Web rubbed a hand over his face, wondering what he was doing. If honoring Sans' pleading request was the right thing at all. He couldn't banish the sight of the young man's bones starting to flake, or how easily the needle sank into Sans' arm. DTE was potentially deadly...but Sans had already been dying.

The unexpected repercussion of saving Sans' life in such a way laid tucked under his desk, thankfully asleep. Papyrus' twin. A child Sans bid him to take in his hysteria, overwhelmed by the wrongness of there being two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Web's interpretation of all this? Sans' psyche couldn't handle there being twins. He obsessed over Papyrus and two babybones would reaffirm that this wasn't the same Paps as before. Web isn't sure if he is doing the right thing at all, or if he really is protecting Sans from his own fractured mental state.


	208. Chapter 208

"web understood," Sans explained, his words causing more questions than they answered. "and you...you wouldn't have. papyrus means nothing to you." 

Gaster's brows arched, "That accusation is uncalled for. Papyrus is my grandson-"

Sans gripped his skull, unable to chase away the demons. Gaster fell silent for a long moment, then abruptly changed the subject, "Do you feel well enough to visit the Dreemurs. Your stats are stable and Toriel wishes to see us."

"paps…"

"He will be fine."

Sans held the babybones tighter to his chest, aware of Gaster's appraising stare, unease fluttering hot behind his aching sternum.


	209. Chapter 209

The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on when the Gaster trio arrived at the Dreemur estate. Sans held a bundled Papyrus close and shot Gaster looks which the doctor returned. Toriel bid them to come in with a smile, though it was clear she couldn’t read what caused their apparent tiff. The meal was a stiff affair, with Sans and Gaster muttering at each other, which turned into jabs before suddenly, Sans shot to his feet at the dinner table.

“stop acting like you know best!”

“Papyrus is my—”

“is my son! he doesn’t need you!”


	210. Chapter 210

Toriel laid a paw on Gaster’s shoulder, mindful of the scientist’s defensive posture and closed expression. It made an awful amount of sense. Sans’ sudden shift in behavior and leave from work for medical reasons. Symptoms of a broken soul bond. One both tried miserably to hide. Gaster by claiming Papyrus as his own (trying to protect Sans’ reputation with the shadow of his own). Sans by never telling a Soul about a partner or the fact he was expecting. Toriel wished she knew what happened, but she knew why they hid the truth.

Broken soul bonds meant broken monsters.


	211. Chapter 211

Sans couldn't take it. The lies. The pity. The assumptions. He looked around the room that was his since childhood and shivered. He needed out. Now. There would be no returning to school for degrees or to teach classes. The labs? They weren't safe. Too many questioning eyes. Too many expectations. 

He wanted…

He wanted to raise his son.

A son that he would need to call his brother to protect them both. That was fine. He could do it. For Papyrus. For his happiness. 

He gently laid Papyrus down and gathered his belongings, prepared to make a grand escape.


	212. Chapter 212

“Sans! It is after midnight where are you?”

Beep.

“Are you staying in a hotel somewhere for a few days? Your closet is—”

Beep.

“Asgore just called to ask why you emailed him a resignation notice…”

Beep.

“Sans, it has been over 24 hours, please, call back.”

Beep.

“I recognize you are an adult, and I have been informed that there is no evidence to consider you a missing persons by the police—”

Beep.

“Papyrus is registered as my son and your brother, Sans. Please don’t make me file a kidnapping—”

Beep.

“...Sans...Please. Come home. Answer your phone. ”

Beep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have XX missed messages. Press 1 to listen. Press 7 to delete.


	213. Chapter 213

Disappearing was easy when you had a nest egg worth drooling over and a kid in your arms. The lady who rented to him had this pitying look in her eye when he dodged why he couldn’t give her his work information, but could pay for housing for the next year in cash. After holing up in a hotel for a week, he had a two bedroom secured for him and Paps. And by the next week, it was furnished. Tossing money at one’s problems unsurprisingly worked. 

Sans ignored his phone.

He was fine.

Papyrus was safe.

It was enough.


	214. Chapter 214

Grillby’s flames leaped when Sans shuffled through the door, a wailing babybones tucked to his chest. Papyrus was never the best sleeper, but the past couple days, nothing calmed him. All a trip to a pediatrician told him was that Paps was agitated by Sans’ own disturbed magic. With useless pamphlets shoved into his pockets about both partners sharing magic with an infant to prevent one from becoming too stressed, Sans found himself at his old friend’s bar.

(Toriel would help, but she would tell Gaster. He couldn’t turn to anyone else.)

“hey grillbz. can we talk for a sec?”


	215. Chapter 215

Sans stood in the backroom of the bar, head ducked as the fire elemental soothed Papyrus. He tried to apologize for disrupting his work, but Grillby silenced him with a look. When the babybones fell asleep, he passed him back and left, returning a few minutes later with a plate of fries and a bottle of ketchup, “Eat.”

“grillbz.”

“I will return when I am done closing.”

Exhausted, Sans only nodded, picking at the fries and his favorite drink. Ugly bitterness bubbled up. He went to Grillby for help. He shouldn’t be resentful that the man succeeded where Sans failed.


	216. Chapter 216

“He looks like you.”

“course he does, he’s my brother,” Sans mumbled, moody as he watched his best friend bounce Papyrus in one arm. The babybones woke from his brief nap restless and hungry. Grillby puffed, flames flickering, before laying Paps against his shoulder. Sans could see his soul brighten with the active transfer of magic. Though they both knew it was a bandaid placed over a crack in a dam. 

“Your father would be better suited to helping. He raised a child before.”

“he’s busy.”

“Too busy for his sons?”

“sure.”

“...Does he know he’s a grandfather?”

Sans flinched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the 'Grillby isn't an idiot' arc.


	217. Chapter 217

“give him back.”

“Sans…”

“give him back! give me papyrus!”

“Sit down, Sans. Now.”

Sans, despite being on the edge of hysterics, balked at the fire elementals show of temper. He shakily stumped onto a wooden delivery crate. Grillby bounced Papyrus a little more, mindful of the infant, before sitting next to the skeleton.

“He came here looking for you. I knew you were ill, but nobody mentioned a child…”

“or that i was broken,” Sans sneered.

“...Am I broken?”

“w-what?”

“Am I broken, Sans?”

“no! shoot, grillbz, i’m sorry, i forgot—”

He held up a hand, “It’s the past.”


	218. Chapter 218

“he knows.”

“Hm?”

“dad knows he’s a grandfather.”

“Does he know what happened to—”

Sans rubbed his sternum, “yeah. pops knows everything.” He laughed bitterly. “he always knows everything. knows what’s best too. and i’m just the idiot who will never live up to his own last name.”

“That’s untrue.”

“how? what big inventions or discoveries have had my face plastered all over them? when was i ever in the paper for being anyone but gaster’s son? now i have paps. f i can do one thing right in my life, i want him to grow up…”

“Grow up..?”

“...happy.”


	219. Chapter 219

Grillby dandled a now cooing Papyrus over one knee, “He want him to be happy...unlike...you?”

“i...i don’t know. yes? no? i was happy i think. or i thought i was. but everything fell apart and i don’t know if i was ever happy or just didn’t know any better.”

“Losing your bondmate is—”

“stop. don’t.”

“Alright, we won’t talk about it,” Grillby gently laid Papyrus back in Sans’ arms. “But you shouldn’t isolate yourself. Not now.”

“right.”

“Sans.”

“you’re a real pal, grillbz,” Sans whispered. “thanks for the help with paps.”

“Sans!”

He slipped past Grillby’s grasp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Sans, like the real hero of the story he is, runs away. AGAIN.


	220. Chapter 220

Calm. He needed to be calm for Papyrus' sake. No matter how hard it was when he woke from a dead sleep, terrified that the world had looped again. But slowly. Very slowly. Sans calmed. He found a semblance of a center.

Well, until he looked at his phone. 

Messages on messages. Texts. Voicemails. Emails. From his father. Toriel. Asgore. Grillby. Even Alphys. 

He couldn't bear look at or read any of them. Sans considered just getting a new number when the message came from an unknown sender.

It read:  
I'm sorry. It won't happen again.

Sans shivered then laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been working so much lately the days run together. xD I wrote this chapter last night and didn't realize I forgot to post it until this morning. Oopsie. Multiple 12hr shifts in a row will scramble your brain a bit.


	221. Chapter 221

"I'm sorry."

Sans stared down at the tenacious child on his doorstep. Frisk, out of everyone, had found him. He wanted to ask how, to pick up and run, but god he was tired. So tired.

“just leave me alone, Frisk,” he told her.

“I can help you with Paps. I owe you that much after everything.”

Frisk began to babble about babysitting and how she'd do what she could to make up the damage she caused. Sans hit her with a CHECK out of spite and sagged against the doorframe when he realized she was earnest.

"Let me try."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter aligns with the last part of Shattered Dishes. We are in the final arc, as it were. Where Frisk tries to mend a broken Sans with babysitting and Sans...he does the best he can.


	222. Chapter 222

It was surprising that no one else came knocking on Sans' door. The messages slowed. And his self-isolation became a strange, surreal reality in which the cause of his flight, now showed up on the daily. He barely spoke to the kid. Watching like a feral cat with kittens whenever Frisk handled Paps. But eventually, they came to a peace. 

Paps was about a year old when the package arrived. It held a uniform and a name badge and a written invitation to return to the labs whenever he wished.

He left it in his closet.

He wasn't ready yet.


	223. Chapter 223

First words. First steps. First smiles.

They were dutifully catalogued by Sans. Some precious moments were even snapped by Frisk. Paps was two and Frisk ten when he left the pair alone for the first time. He babysat at ten. He half-suspected Tori dropped Frisk off every day after school. Why, he wasn’t sure, but the kid was pretty hard to deny once they got in their head they’d do something. Willfully independent was the nicest way of stating it.

Other than Frisk, he only spoke to Grillby...after avoiding him for a year. Grillby told him off for that.


	224. Chapter 224

“oh, alph, what have you gotten yourself into?”

Sans stared at the tv as an all-too-familiar robot wheeled onto a luridly lit stage, microphone in hand. Papyrus clapped, instantly fascinated by the bright colors. “TON-TON!” he chanted when the robot introduced himself as the host to a brand new show ‘Cooking with Chainsaws’. “VROOOOOM!” He sank into the comfort of the olive-green couch he found second-hand a while back. Gaster would hate it. Even Frisk called the color horrid. But at least it wasn’t pink and glittery like Mettaton’s entire facade. Hesitantly, Sans reached for his phone, heavy with guilt.


	225. Chapter 225

The first “sorry” text took an hour to send. His head spun a little with shame and unbidden tears gathered at the edges of his sockets. It was embarrassingly cathartic. Paps, sweet Paps, tried to soothe him by patting the side of his face. Sans laughed through the ugly tears. Then began his next text. He sent messages to Alphys and Grillby, to Webdings and Asgore and Toriel. But when he pulled up his father’s name, he paused. And trembled. Why was he shaking?

Sans snapped back to reality when his phone buzzed.

It was Fell.

_So you’re alive, kid._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:  
> +Sans shaking and distrust of his father is seen in HwC, which causes Red to believe the relationship between the pair was abusive. Though Sans later confronts Red, explaining that it wasn't that way, which of course, confused our protagonist. Sans' trust in his own father and himself was ultimately shattered by the LOADS, and of course, Gaster has no idea why. As far as he can tell, Sans had a bad reaction to the experiements, had a mental break down as a result, and then went on to make a series of poorly thought out decisions.


	226. Chapter 226

It was terrible manners to show up at someone’s home unannounced. But when Kris opened the door of the Dreemur home, Sans saw no judgement on the teen’s face. He simply stepped to the side, allowing Sans to walk in. 

“Who was at the door, sweetie?” Toriel called out, padding from the kitchen, flour sticking to her fur. She froze upon seeing him. “Sans?”

“h-hey tori. been a while.”

“YOU BIG,” exclaimed Papyrus from Sans’ arms.

Toriel covered her snout with a paw, hiding a laugh, “Hello child. You’re very observant.”

“um...paps...say hello to your aunty toriel.”

“HI!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slowly.


	227. Chapter 227

There was pie, a pot of golden flower tea and some tears shared that day. Toriel didn’t press to know who fathered Papyrus and Asgore mentioned in passing that the position at the lab had flexible hours and generous pay. 

“frisk must’ve told you where i lived…”

“No,” Toriel said softly. “She didn’t. She took a bus and biked to your apartment until she ran out of allowance money. The others covered for her, said they were all studying at the library. When I found out...she only let me drive her to the bus stop.”

“...she’s a good kid…”


	228. Chapter 228

Sans wasn’t ready to go back to the CORE. Not yet. But gentle persuasion had him leaving Papyrus with Frisk one Saturday morning to go sell hotcats in the park. It was within walking distance of the apartment and the owner of the cart knew Sans from his visits with Paps. He worked until mid-afternoon, tired and jittery but buzzing with a sense of accomplishment. It was nice to be working again. 

“how was my bro?” he asked as he kicked off his shoes.

Frisk motioned at the TV and winked.

Paps had fallen asleep watching that glittery robot Mettaton.


	229. Chapter 229

The news came from a somber-faced Asgore. Dr. Webdings Fell had fallen to his death into the CORE. Sans had been slowly integrating himself back into the lives of his friends (his avoidance of Gaster a glaring point of contention) and to hear of Web’s passing before he could find the guts to have a drink with him...It was a sucker punch. They’d spoken only over the phone about what happened in those days Sans couldn’t quite remember.

Then it hit him—hard—what would happen to Web’s two sons?

To Red? To the little babybones Webdings named Edge?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For folks wondering if Sans really remembered having two kids...the answer is...kinda? He is aware he had two. He is aware that he asked Fell to take one and that Fell named him Edge. But after years of being wholly fixated on Papyrus and enduring a possible RESET, he's more or less categorized Edge as Web's son. He's the one who raised him and impressed upon him. And Sans, unfortunately, is completely unaware at this point of Web's fall from grace. Not like the Dreemurs are going to tell the emotionally fragile Sans that his coworker has been demoted out of the labs, that he was suspected to be a heavy drinker, or that his cause of death was apparent suicide.
> 
> (This is also a nod to chapter 5 of HwC where Red is going over past moments. He is 16 and Edge 3 when his old man hops the rails...they're orphaned...and nobody cares. Sans has no idea that Red is going to get it into his head he needs to raise Edge himself.)
> 
> And as bad as this looks on Sans, he can't exactly show up at the Fell doorstep like 'Yo, I'm your brother's actual parent and due to a complete life crisis that I am still in, I couldn't raise him. Hand him over now please.'


	230. Chapter 230

“What are you doing here?”

Sans flinched and turned away from Catty, the new receptionist at the CORE. There, in the doorway, cigarette box already in hand, was his father. He looked the same as ever, albeit with deeper circles beneath his sockets and a new stain on the collar of his white coat. 

“heya pops,” Sans said, painfully aware of the three years of silence he put Gaster through. “I, uh...work here.”

Gaster’s eyelights flicked to Sans’ ID badge, then to the red-rimmed reading glasses Sans now sported, before landing on the paperwork in Sans’ hands.

“I see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a few more chapters to go...
> 
> I'd like to officially announce here that this series will continue after TWU is over. A HwC sequel is in the works, but won't be in the 100 word daily drabble format. Instead, I will be starting a new adventure. I hope you will join me for [The Good Doctor](https://catsitta.tumblr.com/post/626580090656096256/the-good-doctor-cover-a-little-early-but-i-guess).


	231. Chapter 231

Until Paps started preschool, Sans only worked part days at the CORE. Spending a few hours in his new Advisor role while Frisk babysat. The kid was still young, and he loathed leaving the two of them alone in the apartment, but he was also resigned. If all went to hell, Frisk could play hopscotch with time. 

It felt good to work in the labs again. Who knew his gift with souls would become a keystone in a niche occupation? The only true downside was, well, who he Advised. Excitement about the Dr. Gaster twosome quelled quickly amid stark tension.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone: Sans is back!   
> Everyone: ...Why are both the Dr. Gaster's glaring at each other?


	232. Chapter 232

“WHO THAT?”

Papyrus pointed over Sans’ shoulder while he chatted with Toriel in the Dreemur kitchen. The whole house smelled of her divine baking. Sans turned to see Gaster, tall and stern, staring at Paps with an inscrutable expression. No one spoke. 

Not until Paps broke the silence again, “BRUDER?”

Sans swallowed and scooped up the toddler, “uh, paps, this is...our dad.”

“DAD?” He puzzled it over for a moment then beamed. “HI DAD! WHAT YOUR NAME? MINE IS PAPYRUS.”

“I am Dr. Webdings Gaster.”

“HMMMM...DOCTOR LIKE SANS?”

“...Indeed. You may call me Gaster, if you wish.”

“OKAY!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sans: What kind of totally reasonable reaction does one have to your son meeting his grandfather? I know, let's play the avoidance game for a few more years!!!
> 
> Because as we all know, Sans isn't exactly keen on any bonding time between the pair in the future.


	233. Chapter 233

“stay away from him.”

Gaster looked up from the papers he was reviewing that morning to figure out why the CORE was making a strange whirring noise. Sans stood at the door of his locked office, having gotten even more comfortable ignoring said doors in his absence. 

“Please clarify your meaning, Sans.”

“papyrus.”

“I’m not going to eat him.”

“i don’t want you messing with his head.”

Gaster frowned, “Reviewing his developmental progress is hardly messing with his head. He is clearly a bright, happy child.” His expression softened, “Like you were.”

"gaster…"

"I do wish you'd change your mind."


	234. Chapter 234

Toriel’s human kids were almost good at playing normal. Sans went to the park with the Dreemur family and watched them. Kris and Asriel were the closest, Azzie happy to have a boy his age to roughhouse with, and who was content to listen to everything football. Chara played too, but...almost too roughly, despite being younger. Sans frowned whenever he’d trip Asriel or provoke the sensitive teen into crying. Yet Asriel was quick to forgive and forget, and haul Chara under his arm.

Frisk was one of the boys...when Sans wasn’t around. Then she stayed quiet and close.


	235. Chapter 235

Sans wished he could say everything was uphill from when he started pulling the shards of his life back together. He couldn’t trust his father (there was a jagged lance of paranoia in his soul each time Papyrus was brought up) or the human kids (Chara had this look in his eye that left him shivering). And while he was working again and Paps was proving happy and curious, already a real pro at puzzles, some things...well, they got worse.

He lost track of the number of times he woke up in a cold sweat, clutching at his chest.


	236. Chapter 236

“You look awful.”

“thanks, kid.”

“I mean it, you haven’t looked this bad in a long time.”

Frisk’s stare was disapproving, and Sans sighed, shrugging off his coat and dropping it on the arm of the couch, “it’s late. i’ll call tori to come pick you up.”

“It’s Friday.”

“so? you’re not even thirteen. i aint about to get chewed out by tori keeping you up past your bedtime.”

“She’s running a charity event tonight, so Azzie is picking me up.”

“cool, got his number too.”

“He’ll late me stay later.”

“kid.”

“Grillby would love to see you I bet.”


	237. Chapter 237

“knock knock.”

“...Sans.”

“c’mon grillbyz, you know you’re supposed to say who’s there.”

The elemental gave him a deadpanned look in return.

“aight, yeah, i get it. i’m in the _log_ house,” Sans tried, and earned no response for his _burning_ good wit. He climbed onto a barstool. “so, you got me in the _hot_ seat. what’s got you all _fired_ up at me, bud?”

“You’re still avoiding your father.”

“it’s complicated.”

Grillby set a bottle of cheap, blue label beer in front of Sans. His favorite. Except, now the smell of it roiled his magic. Sans grimaced, realization prickling.


	238. Chapter 238

It took about an hour and a few long sips from the bottle to realize that it was guilt eating him up and making his magic uneasy. But how did one explain that the scent of cigarettes made him anxious? How every brief conversation led to him having nightmares? There was nobody alive that knew what happened to Sans anymore. Frisk had half the story...and Gaster even less. How could he explain the lies, the deception and the bitter tang of fear?

He missed Web.

And he missed his father.

But most of all, he missed his own ignorance.


	239. Chapter 239

Sans wished he could say his revelations made resolving the issues easier. It didn't. He spent the next year or so tiptoeing around his father outside of work, struggling to hold a conversation, and just overall recovering slowly. He was tempted to give up entirely, pick up Paps and start over somewhere far away and new, when he found them. Web's journals. Tucked away in the abandoned lab (nobody having replaced him), was not only his research but a window into his personal life.

He peered at the last day, and realized it was an account of why he...fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In HwC Sans gifts Red with his father's journals and we learn that Web jumped the rails because he saw his timeline end. In a way, these journals offered closure to both Sans and Red, regarding the man's death.


	240. Chapter 240

Toriel insisted on babysitting Paps, which left Sans with too much time with his own thoughts when he came home to an empty apartment. He wasn't to pick up Papyrus until morning. And with him starting kindergarten soon, there would be less opportunity for sleepovers like this. And Paps did love them.

A little lost and in need of comfort, Sans popped in to visit Grillby.

He'd been doing that more lately.

Usually he stuck to ketchup but more than once the disapproving bartender had to cut him off. It was fine. He was fine. He didn't have a problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is implied in HwC that while Sans doesn't drink often, he is a lightweight, and a touch secretive about any overindulgences.


	241. Chapter 241

"HELLO SIR!"

Papyrus smiled at his father. He didn't get to see Gaster often, but when he did, he brought the most fun puzzles! 

"Hello Papyrus, how are you?"

"GOOD! YOU BRING ME A PUZZLE?"

Gaster rolled his eyelights, "Impatient boy. Here. I cannot stay very long. This is for you to borrow."

"ADVANCED PUZZLE MAKING?"

"It is from my personal collection. Do take care of it."

"I WILL!!!"

"And…" he faltered, "Do not tell Sans I gave it to you." He looked so sad. Then he bid his goodbyes, exchanging a long look with Toriel, who wilted a bit.


	242. Chapter 242

“Um S-sans? C-could you do me a favor?”

It had been a few years since he returned to the labs and started rebuilding the ties we failed to cut. Paps was in kindergarten and proved to Sans every day that he was just...the best kid he could have asked for. Tidy, intelligent, creative and most importantly—happy. So happy. Was Sans ever that happy? (He thinks he was a long time ago.)

“sure, alph. need a hand with mettaton again?”

“A-a-actually...I want you to t-test something.”

“lemme see.”

Sans had to admit, the upgraded inventory boxes were awesome.


	243. Chapter 243

He was tipsy despite deciding to cut back. He should go. It was late and nobody was here but him and Grillby. But he didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to be alone. Paps was staying with the Dreemurs, which meant his apartment was dark and empty. 

“hey hot stuff, you mind me chillin’ a little longer?”

“...If you must.”

Sans had been pouring his soul out to him all evening. Grillby was nice and warm. And Sans? He felt so cold. The elemental leaned on the counter, and Sans surprised them both by pulling him into a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is referenced in HwC during chapter 155-160, where Grillby accuses Sans of not visiting in 6 months and Sans admits to Red that he smooched the elemental and embrassed himself. So...that also means...
> 
> We are ony 6 months behind the events of HwC. Almost there guys.


	244. Chapter 244

Pain.

It doused any heat Sans felt like a bucket of ice water straight from the arctic sea. The disharmony between their souls was a sobering whip crack that sent Sans scrambling backwards with frantic apologies. In humiliation, he shortcut away, and spent the rest of the night hiding in bed, unable to sleep.

Paps unfortunately noticed his poor mood and decided to cheer him up a few days later. And despite numerous times telling him not to use the oven without supervision—

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

“UH-OH!”

—Sans was getting a little too much practice putting out fires these days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of Sans' confession from HwC. Grillby is a widower and isn't receptive to a harmony with another monster. Sans isn't exactly receptive himself, but he's just in a low enough place to ignore the obvious warning signs that he shouldn't smooch the uninterested fire elemental.


	245. Chapter 245

“HI FRISK! HI FRISK’S FRIEND! I’M THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WHO ARE YOU?”

It was a warm summer day, perfect for Paps to get some fresh air at the park. Sans slumped on a bench and watched the babybones swing on the swingset and climb all over the jungle gym. To his surprise, Frisk arrived with a female fish monster, probably a classmate, who looked...sad...despite her toothy grin.

Sans couldn’t really help seeing what he saw. 

**UNDYNE**  
*She’s grieving 

“Heya punk. I’m Udyne. How do you know Frisky?”

“I’VE KNOWN HER MY WHOLE LIFE!”

“I babysit him.”

“Huh. Cool.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Paps meets the coolest fishy lady ever.


	246. Chapter 246

“There ya are, Guppy. What’d I say ‘bout runnin’ off?”

Sans perked up from where he’d been lazily watching the kids play. Papyrus was surprisingly enthusiastic to roughhouse with Undyne, who was the opposite of gentle. Sans had been worried at first, flinching when Paps’ HP was dinged, but the kid was up on his feet in an instant, eyelights starry. He never expected it of such a gentle kid. Heh. Maybe Tori had a point about the ‘coddling’.

A tortoise monster limped towards Undyne, who scowled, “STOP ACTIN’ LIKE MY DAD, OLD MAN!”

“Undyne…”

Undyne bolted. The tortoise sighed.


	247. Chapter 247

“Frisky, Kris is sulking again!” Chara snarked, flicked Kris’ ear before flopping beside him on the floor. He shared this bedroom with Azzie until the older boy went to college. “Hey loser, anything going on in there. Knock knock!”

“Chara, don’t be mean,” Frisk sighed as she slipped into the room, arms crossed. “He’s just worried about Asriel.”

“Tch. We fixed it. The cry baby isn’t dead.”

“Chara…”

“Uhg. Whatever. Everything is all peachy keen and perfect.”

“Sans—” Frisk began.

“Sans—blah blah—Sans. Give up, Frisky. He hates us.”

“We ruined his life.”

“He’s ALIVE.”

Neither noticed Kris’ contemplative expression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So close. The end is in a few days. <3 So you can guess what the next couple chapters will beeeeee.


	248. Chapter 248

“I CAN’T WAIT! I DON’T WANNA WAIT! CAN’T SCHOOL START NOOOOOOW?”

“sorry pal, i know you’re excited to be a firstie at big kid’s school, but you know you gotta be patient.”

“UHG!”

“how about you go organize your bag?”

“I DID THAT.”

“we can watch tv?”

“METTATON ISN’T ON RIGHT NOW.”

“i have a new space documentary.”

“IT’S NOT THE SAME...I LIKE IT WHEN WE GO OUT AND USE YOUR TELESCOPE BUT IT’S A SCHOOL NIGHT,” Papyrus frowned with thought before beaming. “I CAN MAKE COOKIES FOR MY CLASSMATES! PLEASE, SANS, PLEASE!”

How could Sans say no?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost there. Almost at 250. =)


	249. Chapter 249

Sans was vaguely aware that the apartment next to his was vacant. It wasn’t until he heard the distinct noises of a person moving in boxes that it really registered. From the sound of it, his new neighbors were probably a small family, with the father doing the heavy lifting as his kid tagged along, barking orders about where stuff should go. It was honestly hilarious.

Sans stepped outside, feeling neighborly, hoping maybe Paps might have a possible friend.

Then the kid barged out and his breath caught when he saw him. 

The child he left with Webdings to raise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more...This chapter directly aligns with Ch.1 of HwC.


	250. Chapter 250

Sans played it cool. Let himself be interrogated by Edge. He wasn’t his son, not really. He was Webding’s through-and-through, all one had to do was look at him. (He still looked an awful lot like Paps.) A minute or so later, another skeleton stepped out. Red Fell. 

And his soul skipped a beat. 

He met Red before, a long time ago, but he was all grown up now, making his soul feel funny. Nope. He wasn't going to humor that notion.

“cute kid, yours?”

“unfortunately,” Red grunted. His skull faintly flushed, he smiled.

Sans' stubborn soul skipped another beat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have reached the end!!!! 250 chapters. 500 days of writing daily to make this universe come alive. It's been a journey and I hope to see you all for my future ventures. 
> 
> Tomorrow, the daily drabbles will continue in a whole new 'verse, hope you all will join me in The Good Doctor.
> 
> But I will continue writing in this one. Handle with Care needs its sequel. Keep an eye out for Bubblewrap Blues~


End file.
